Finding Fionna
by Minako25
Summary: Ice King has found a way to bring his beloved Fionna to him, but at the cost of ripping her away from her friends in Aaa. Now Cake and Marshall Lee must find a way to cross the barrier of infinite possibilities to rescue their beloved heroine, but nothing is ever that straight forward, is it? Genderbent Universe Crossover. FioLee. FinnFlame. Adventure. Friendship.
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

Somewhere east of the Ice Kingdom, beyond the Land of Ooo rests a barren grey island, forgotten by most. For on it are no forest, no village or creature of any sort, only jagged stone spurs as far as the eye can see. The only landmark of interest found is a crumbling three tiered vaulted temple encroached with centuries of decay. It cannot be found on any recent map as further deterrent to keep wayward explorers away from its shores. If you did find it, it was by accident or product of heavy research.

Oddly however, today this void land rustled with a single sign of life. A beacon of blue moves steadfast across the dull grey earth towards the single lost temple. The traveler is worn and ragged climbing the last of the temple's stone steps with high spirits.

"This is it," his aged voice confirms, comparing the white stone visage to a yellowed parchment inscribed in ancient words and drawings. A smile twists onto his colorless lips, his thin pale fingers squeezing onto the scroll even tighter. "My hard work is finally paying off."

A maniacal laugh builds in his pot belly, a laugh that would send shivers down the spine of anyone who could hear. The strange blue man tucks away his old scroll and marches on, unopposed by anyone or thing on this lonely island. A forgotten rock in the vast ocean shrouded in shadows and ghosts, in secrets; and the yet seen schemes of one Ice King.

Within the massive domed construct, time and nature have equally taken their toll as with outside. In time, even the doom itself will finally meet its end, crumbling to the earth in a mess of rusted metal and sandstone. No indication of the majesty or even the purpose of this temple remains to be reasoned; only fine grains of dust on worn marble floor.

Bare feet crunch across the fine sand, scurrying along to the heart of the dome. There lays the largest pile of dust and decay, and the old king makes haste to claw and dig his way through it. Steadily the dirt is cleared away, the pushing and pulling causing it to trickle like an hourglass, down some unseen cavity.

Ice King's icy nails finally scratch across the surface of hidden wooden planks. Eagerly, his long boney fingers curl around a heavy metal ring attached to the wood piece. With a firm grasp and mighty tug the concealed door not only gives way, but splinters in two from rot. Damaged or not, the trapdoor reveals the hidden stairwell at last. Giggles akin to a school girl bubble up with in the old wizard as he drops down into the portal. Ice King hurries down a flight of spiraling metal and stone stairs, down into the darkness seeping out from below.

Decay and ruin is decidedly less in the lower levels, but still caked with dust and grim. The stairwell is cocooned in a cylinder of metal, not that Ice King can particularly tell in the pitch dark of this passage. Deeper and deeper he descends into darkness until with a thump and a yell he tumbles down the remaining steps.

His scratchy deep voice complains and he gingerly rubs his tender behind, drowning out the native hum of this underground lair.

"Now, where is that lumping scroll?" Ice King pats down his robes blindly in the inky black. Hissing steadily fills the dark, easily ignored by the peculiar old man until a bright white light flashes over head. The low sound grows into a buzz as several more lights burst to life overhead, blinking down a long hallway. After a moment or so the passageway is illuminated by evenly placed, but erratically flickering lights. The glow is unnaturally cold and forces the king to shield his elderly eyes from the harsh white that reflects on metal walls and floors.

Dusting his royal blue robes off, Ice King follows the trail of lights to a massive vault door and a handle shaped much like a ship's steering wheel. The King studies the large door for a moment, poking and twisting the handle a little before attempting to open the large strongroom. With all of his strength he only accomplishes a grunt and whimper echoing down the hall. Huffing and puffing, Ice King tries again, throwing up his skeletal legs for leverage, but still the door refuses to give way.

Running a claw through his long white beard, the Ice King settles on what he knows best for solutions. Fingers glowing with icy power, he places his wizard hands upon the steel wall, letting ice crystals creep and crawl across the surface. Steadily the vault door and hall drop to below freezing temperatures, the safe moaning and crying in protest. Still the temperature drops further, causing the bright white lights above to begin popping and shattering under the extreme cold. Finally the old wizard deems the temperature just right and with a tiny tap of his claw, shatters the door like tiny shards of glass.

As casually as walking through his own snowy home, Ice King enters the last room, where he will ultimately find his goal. It's quite plain for something quite sizable that could have stored a whole treasure trove of wealth and secrets. But amidst the shadows of this dimly lit box is only one noticeable treasure, displayed on a tall square pedestal with a single spot light overhead. It is nothing but a lackluster teapot… or gravy boat the Ice King can't be sure. A sickly green patina encases its shape and any design or engraving once adorning it is long since unrecognizable.

Undeterred, Ice King beholds the lamp in one hand, while fumbling with his yellowed parchment in the other. He skims the worn paper for instruction, mumbling to himself again, "Now, how do you summon this thing? Magic words? A spell? Come on people, throw me a bone already…"

A growl escapes his dried lips when no answers reveal themselves and moves instead to handling the item with both hands and studying it up close. Fumbling again with the items in his hands, the Ice Kings kneads and turns the treasure in his palms until slowly steam begins to pour from the mouth. A booming voice not his own abruptly echoes from all around, "Who dares disturb my slumber?" The ominous sound startles the old man, causing him to hastily toss aside the smoking artifact.

Just above the ground the artifact stops it's decent, levitating for a moment before rising back up to eye level. Ice King watches it with childlike awe and fear, but this is what he came for, his ultimate triumph and greatest wish.

"No seriously," the same voice sounds, less ominously than before as a pink skinned arm reaches around from behind the frozen king and takes the handle of the tea pot shaped artifact. Quickly Ice King turns around to come face to face with a rather rotund fellow with droopy eyes and a coffee mug in his hand. With a mighty yawn of rosey pink lips he pours a fragrant hot beverage from the pot into his mug, "Who dares disturb me before my morning coffee… I do not know."

"I dare," boldly proclaims the Ice King, chest puffed out.

"Oh, this oughta be special," unimpressed the pink skinned man floats towards the back of the room, snapping his fingers and lighting the room up at his command. He comes to rest on a plush sectional sofa, engulfed in pillows and beside a tiered tray of decadent breakfast pastries. The round pink man flops down on the furniture, taking another sip of his coffee before focusing on his unexpected guest, "So, you got me. What do you desire of my immeasurable power?"

Without missing a beat, the old king reaches into his robes again to reveal a thick worn tome for his response. On the cover it read "Fionna and Cake" with a crudely drawn caricature of what appeared to be the Ice King kissing a bunny eared woman. Ice King missed the role of the pink skinned man's eyes.

"This!" Ice King passionately pleaded, "I want you to bring them to life! Fionna, Cake and everyone I want make them real. I want them to be here with me. I want them to love me, and I want to be her hero and be her everything and no tricks! No making the 'book' grow legs and dance around or some imaginary friend thing. I want the real Fionna here in the flesh."

"Fionna?" the man asked with seemingly rapt attention, "The one on the cover, whom I can assume is making hot lip action with you?"

"Yes," Ice King answered, as he double-checked the cover, suddenly a little more self aware. A devil may care smile played on the pink man's lips as he rested his chin onto his twisted fingers.

"You want her here, body and soul, for you and you alone?"

"Yes! Yes! Absolutely yes!" the king crowed in anticipation.

"Hm?" the mysterious creature thoughtfully processed the request in his head, the smile of earlier growing more deeply sinister by the thought. "Fionna the human, heroine of the Land of Aaa. Body and soul… I think I can make something work, that is if you wish it?"

"Yes! I wish it! Everything you just said, body and whatever, I wish for Fionna!" was blurted without a second thought. In that moment he had no more time to think as the wish granter sat up straight, snapped his finger in unison and proclaimed, "Done."

_***BREAK***_

Across time, space and the infinite possibilities, at about the same time Ice King was making his greatest wish, an epic battle was taking place in the Land of Aaa. As epic as the battle was, it was not held between two great armies, but instead just two individuals. It wasn't on some great desolate plain at dawns first light, no this was in the early hours of the night, on the grassy meadows in a funny little tree house in a weeping willow tree. However any bystander outside would have described the start of a second Mushroom War from the sounds, shaking and fleeing birds from the area.

"AAAAAAA" a high pitched voice furiously cried in prelude to a hairbrush crashing through an upstairs window. The cries continued as another thumb and crash echoed within the abode.

"Fionna baby!" a motherly voice pleaded followed by deep sarcastic laughter.

"Is that all you got adventuress?" taunted a young man, right before a chair sailed across the room into his head, to which he dully replied, "Ow."

Front and center of the battle fumed a disheveled blonde teen girl, approximately 14 or 15 years old. She was already a well developed young girl with maybe only a few more inches to grow. Dressed in blues and a white bunny eared hat, she was normally not seen seething at the teeth and brandish furniture over her head. She was also not normally covered head to toe in wiggly red Jell-o which seemed to be hanging off the other two occupants as well.

"What the stuff Marshall Lee?" she bit before she lobbed the dresser drawer Cake normally took her catnaps in. This time the undead teen vampire easily dodged the projectile with a cocky grin on his pale face. Cake however cringed as the wooden drawer smashed and scattered upon the floor. Cockily the vampire opened his fanged mouth to retort, but Fionna wasn't quite done herself.

"I don't get your damage man! You make this big stink about me keeping company with Gumball and now Flame Prince, but than you flopping tell me I'm a stupid lumpy human girl and you could give two booms about me. You act like a total butt and tell me to get the lump out of your life, so I did. But than… on than you do this!"

The adventuress emphasizes her point by flinging red goo from her body as she stretches her arms out wide for all to see. A twinkle of a laugh threatens to play in Marshall's dark eyes, but he somehow manages to subdue the urge.

"You followed Flame Prince and I while we were hanging out, just to pull this… this stupid prank! What were you thinking? Do you know what you did? How much you could have hurt Flame Prince?"

On that accusation his eyes travel down Fionna's arm to her hand, the one that is shinning red and blistering from burns she is currently ignoring. A lesser red stains her cheek too, and it doesn't take an expert to know who gave her both of those injuries. He scoffs at the notion, "Hurt Flame Prince?"

The offhand comment only fuels the proverbial fire as Fionna bitterly shakes her head and turn her away, tears burning in her eyes. She just couldn't understand her hot and cold vampire friend anymore. Over time it seemed their friendship was degrading instead of strengthening, pulling them apart. It was like Marshall Lee, King of the Vampires even after everything, was determined to be the bad guy.

The silence carried on far too long for the vampires likeings as he stared at his human companions backside. Various solutions to the prolonged silence filled Marsall Lee's brain, but when he floated up beside the young woman his mouth inquired, "You know if you're that mad about the Jell-O staining your clothes, I'd be more than happy to suck the red off for you."

"1000 years has really turned your brain to poo," she shook softly.

"What?" he questioned, despite his vampire hearing.

"Get out," Fionna spoke softly staring directly at the wall. Her sister Cake quickly hurried to her side for comfort, no longer attempting to avoid the impending crossfire.

"Oh come on Fionna," Marshall aloofly amended.

"Get out of my house."

"Technically…"

"Get the lump out of my life!" she finally roared, turning around to face him with a waterfall of tears. No witty remark escaped the vampires lips after that as he watched her crumble to the floor and cover her face. His expression remained vacant as he turned and floated out of the tree house into the night.

Cake attempted to comfort her baby sister as she sobbed shaking on the floor. The female feline finally took note of the burn on her sister's hand, choosing to fuss over that first and formost, "Oh honey. Let's get something on that burn there."

Her human sister instead mumbled thru her tears and fingers to just leave.

"Fionna?" she couldn't be sure her sister was thinking straight any more.

Sniffling, Fionna lifted her head up and repeated more surely, "Please leave me alone Cake."

The cat hesitated at that, wanting to protest, wanting to comfort her, but eventually conceding, "Call me if you need me."

No more acknowledgment was given as the cream and tan cat exited for the outside to give herself a breath of fresh air too. Her sharp blue eyes looked across the calm meadow and up at the peaceful twinkling stars. She inhaled the clean cool night air through her nose, recomposing her own frayed nerves. A heavy sigh not her own broke the silence, but the cat already knew she wasn't alone.

"I really globbed up this time." The Vampire acknowledged from a above.

"Mm hm," was all she had to say to that.

"I'll just give her some space. She'll come around, she always does."

"I don't know about that," Cake crossed her paws over her chest.

"Whatever. Fionna can't resist me… I mean, no one can. She'll always come back to me because she clearly loves me."

"Just keep telling yourself that."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means, maybe you should be honest and tell the truth," Cake finally resolved to glare at the vampire. Fionna was right she decided, in saying that 1000 years really had turned his brain into poo.

"What truth?" Marshall Lee almost laughed, his eyes unable to meet the cat. Said cat seemed to struggle on her following words, almost too disgusted to speak them.

"That it's you who…"

Before she could complete her thought a familiar shrill scream echoes within the house. No longer an angry or frustrated scream, but the kind where your suddenly caught off guard and very, very scared.

"Fionna!" Marshall reacted in the blink of an eye, instantly to the spot she had last been. Cake soon followed, as fast as her cat paws could take her just in time to see Marshall Lee tear upstairs still calling out the adventuress's name. The cat paused on the spot her sister had last been, seeing Jell-o spatter outlining the spot she was sitting and her sword discarded outside. The cat could see that her sister had been scratching at the floor with her treasured weapon, drawing random lines in the wood. She drew closer to the spot, feeling strong residual heat on the floor right where her sister was.

Startling her out of her examination Marshall Lee informed, "She's not upstairs either. I can't tell that anyone else was here or broke in."

"Marshall…"

"What Cake?" he questioned with a barely hidden edge. The cat still stared intently at the circle of red slush on the floor. Gingerly Marshall Lee approached behind her, now truly examining the scene before him. The heat radiating off the floor was even more apparent to the undead teen, sensing the ripple in the air above too. His brow furrowed and he ran his hand through his dark locks of hair, "What in the Night-O-Sphere. Someone or something opened a major … MAJOR portal here, and closed it up in a hurry."

"Are you telling me my baby sister's been kidnapped?"

"By some seriously hellish dark magic."

Cake glanced up at the Vampire King, who was floating away clawing at his brain with both hand. Seeing such a loose of compsure and visible worry in him of all people, made the cat feel even more helpless.

"Oh Fionna, baby, where did they take you?"

_***TO BE CONTINUED***_

_There's the first chapter. I hope you enjoyed it thus far and will stay with me on this adventure.  
I honestly wanted to write this story because while looking over a lot of Fionna and Cake related stories, I found one thing missing from a lot of them: ADVENTURE! Not that I don't enjoy Slice of Life and Romance stories, but I felt like Fionna, Cake and Co. have much more adventures to tell us. Also I'm a little obsessed with how Ooo and Aaa could realistically meet. Okay, well... as realistic as Adventure Time can be. _

_To everyone: I'm still going back and editing a few things. I had a PROOF READER but (bless his heart) I don't think he understands what it means to __PROOF READER _a story properly. I hate to release writing that isn't perfect... but no matter how many times I edit my own work, I miss things, and even make new mistakes.

_Actually maybe it's me. Maybe I need a BETA. Or just a not friend to help me._

_Meanwhile If I don't respond to you personally, I greatly appreciate all the comments, follows and faves I've already recieved! LOVE!_


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER 2**

On a particularly pleasant day in the Land of Ooo, joyous laughter and song resonated within the sweet and lush Cotton Candy Forest. The sounds came from a small but tightly knit group of friends gathered not too far from the home of Lady Rainicorn. The quartet rested under the cooling shade of a cherry cotton candy tree on a checkered blanket sat a young blonde teen and hero of Ooo - Finn the Human, his brother and closest companion - Jake the Dog, her royal highness done up in all pink – Princess Bubblegum, and of course royal steed of rainbow colors – Lady Rainicorn herself.

The group had gathered for a leisurely picnic of cakes, tarts and lemonade; accompanied by a bit of music and dance provided respectively by Jake's viola and Finn's freestyling moves. Lady clapped her hoofs together in tempo while Bubblegum laughed politely at the antics.

"Hey let's kick this up a notch," Jake suggested as he switched from his already lively tempo into an even faster presto. Without missing a step, Finn danced a little more jovially, working his way over towards the candy monarch. Scooping his hands under her sugary pink fingers, he guided her up from her spot so that she too could skip and bounce around the makeshift checkered dance floor.

Around and around the duo spun, laughter erupting from both of them. It seemed like such a rare occasion lately, that Finn and his friends could be like this, without worry or care for the rest of the world around them. Of course, the world often does come crashing down on the people of Ooo, this time literally as a black boot rapidly twisted in the soft blanket. A boyish yelp and feminine squeak called out as they both tumbled onto the green grass, princess of course caught by hero.

In that moment of tangled bodies, the smiles quickly faded to frowns as the princess composed herself to hastily push away from the hero. The awkwardness of his long time unrequited crush darkened Finn's features too, as he feebly apologized.

"No, it's fine Finn." She assured with practiced sincerity.

"Well that was fun," Jake smoothly cut the tension as he set down his treasured instrument and sat beside Lady.

"일상이 평화로운이어야합니다" the colorful rainicorn sighed contently in her native tongue.

"Yeah, you said it Lady, every day should be like this," Jake agreed closing his eyes and imaging.

"Nothing much has been going on lately either," the human spoke, assuming he'd gotten the gist of what Lady may have said, "No monster attacks, no kingdom spread tragedies, no kidnappings. Actually, I can't remember when the last time Ice King kidnapped a princess?"

"And you're complaining?" Bubblegum sounded mildly offended, being one of the frosty old Kings favorite targets.

"No Princess."

"He's probably just holed up in his stinky old kingdom writing more bad stories about his creepy imaginary girlfriend Fionna." Jake chortled to himself. Finn seconded his agreement on the Ice Kings creepy imagination while Lady drew up a hoof to her chin thoughtfully.

"I've heard," Bubblegum shutters at the thought of enduring the insane musings of the old geezer, "luckily I haven't had to endure this odd torture of… fan fiction?"

The heroic duo nod, unfortunately being exposed first hand to one of the Ice King's twisted and depraved fictitious fantasies. Most outrageous to them was that the female lead was based off the human hero and his best friend; and that was just messed up. Something about the Ice King alluding to them in his fantasies made both males turn green. While the human and dog, "icked" and "ewwed" about their long time adversary, Lady seemed to be struggling to get a word in.

"Lady?" Princess Bubblegum finally acknowledged the magic steeds fidgeting.

"Ice King, 난 그에게 여자를 봤다고 생각," she notified her companions that she **had** seen a princess with the wrinkled old wizard. The rainicorn was quite stunned that no one else seemed to know about this. Lady was certain that a very effective system was in place to keep track of all the Princesses of Ooo. With that revelation the group grew silent enough to hear the chocolate crickets sing for miles around.

"What? Who?" Bubblegum cried in exasperation. How horrible of her to be sitting here enjoying herself when one of her sister princesses was being held against her will. She couldn't believe that she had missed this, or worst yet that no one had reported her disappearance. Jake also had rapt attention on his lovely Lady Rainicorn and even though Finn still couldn't understand her, her next words were clear.

"나도 몰라," she lamented, explaining that the more she thought about it, the harder she found to identify the kidnapped princess. Lady surmised that it could have been Water Princess or Space Angel Princess due to the pale complexion and blue dress she wore. It had also been at least two days since she had passed through the Ice Kingdom and spotted said princess. Woefully she apologizes for not informing someone sooner, but she had seen Finn and Jake nearby so she'd assumed they were on a rescue mission.

"It'll be okay Lady," Bubblegum stroked her candy fingers through the rainbow steeds mane, "We'll head back to the Candy Kingdom to see if anyone has made a report that was missed and how it was overlooked. I know it's not Water Princess because I just talked to her, but regardless Finn and Jake, if you could please?"

"Already on it," Finn confirmed as he leapt up onto his already transforming partner while Bubblegum mounted Lady. The hero made haste on Jake's back towards the snowy mountain in the distant horizon while the ladies headed back to the Candy Castle. Racing as not more than a yellow and blue blur they hurried passed tiny snow creatures and meandering Snow Golem, up the snowy slopes towards the icy jagged peaks. A swing of the hero's sword cut through the cloud cover at the mountain's apex, revealing the single entrance to the Ice King's lair. With a mighty battle cry both Finn and Jake crashed through the gate, ready for anything the old man had to throw at them.

All of their bravado seemed wasted at the scene that awaited them instead. For one, the Ice King was not present lording over his kidnapped victim or a damsel in distress behind frozen bars. Instead they saw a handful of penguins crowding a figure with a white fur hooded cape, apparently playing checkers on a bear skin rug. It was the quake of one penguin that announced the arrival of the two heroes to all, their battle cry somehow going unnoticed. Sitting up straight, the mystery person's hood fell back and Finn, the last human found his breath instantly taken away.

It was the "princess" they'd come to rescue, upon seeing her he had no doubt in his heart guts. She was beautiful he saw, and even though his heart burned for another princess, he couldn't deny that this girl was remarkable too. Her complexion was starkly pale but her cheeks still rosey, her form wrapped in an elegant pastel gown, crystal pearls and fur cloak. A curtain of light blonde hair sparkled with ice crystals, pulled back into high twin tails that cascaded down like floppy bunny ears.

Vacantly Finn continued to stare at her, this "princess" he hadn't seen before, yet seemed eerily familiar to him. An awkward nervousness washed over him, seeing her unharmed and wearing a soft, but sad smile on her lips as she stared straight through him with crystal blue eyes. It was finally a nudge from his dog that he was able to find his voice, "Um. Hi. I'm Finn and I'm here to rescue you Princess."

"Oh," she barely whispered in reply. Her smile remained but her eyes dropped down, confusion filling her head at the strange boy's proclamation. The princess briefly stroked the feathers of a nearby penguin before gathering the folds of her dress as she stood. She made to move towards the human hero when a voice from an adjacent room called out. In a 360 of emotion, her poignant expression light up like a beacon, "Are you ready my little Snow Bunny? Here comes your surprise!"

The craggy aged voice of the Ice King immediately called Finn and Jake into action, weapon and shape shifting fist ready. The Ice King swooshed into the room, hands behind his back hiding something and a toothy smile on his blue face. The girl quickly ran to his side, grasping onto his arm and leaning her cheek into his blue robe. The sight was almost too much for the duo to bear as Finn yelled out, "Ice King!"

"Hun? What? Oh Finn and Jake. When'd you guys get here?"

"Just now," Finn leveled his sword, wary of the maiden snuggling up to the old geezer.

"I see," he paid no mind to the hero, "Oh say, have you guys meet my little Fi…"

"Snow Princess," Fionna interjected quite readily, followed by a moment dull confusion crossing Ice King's eyes. His wrinkled eyes than lit up as he turned to his princess and confirmed, "I like that! Yes, you are now my Snow Princess. Do you like that my little frosted cupcake?"

"I do like it my Ice Kingy-wingy," she delighted, her prominent two front teeth clearly visible. Finn's face contorted at the overly-affectionate display while Jake's paws flew up to his mouth as bile gurgled in his throat. Taking a moment to compose themselves, Jake's free paw pointed accusingly at the King, "What did you do to that princess?"

"Wha.. What are you talking about?" Ice King questioned, barely concealing his own nervousness as he dislodged himself from his princess's grip. The hero and adversary came nose to nose, both glaring each other down as the righteous Finn accused, "No Princess likes you. We're asking what you did to make her like you! A spell? A cursed ring?"

Defensively Ice King threw his arms up in exasperation, "I didn't do nothing of the sorts. I didn't even kidnap her. She likes me for who I am and she likes being here! So get out of here hero. Go on and tell them honey!"

"I love being here with the Ice King so much," she responded with an exuberant smile, but the monotony of her voice somehow betrayed the façade. Finn and Jake would have protested more but she knelt back down towards the surrounding penguins to cuddle them.

"See what I mean? No one's been kidnapped here, no one's under a spell, so go back to the Candy Kingdom… Hero." Ice King smirked with satisfaction.

"I don't know, I feel like we've done this before," Jake doubted. Finn's deep blue eyes searched the mysterious princess's face for any clue that she was being held against her will, that this was just another trick. Gingerly he approached her, taking her gloved hand and searching her eyes for a sign. He couldn't find anything, but a void of loneliness and emptiness that he couldn't decipher. One last time he asked her, "Are you sure you don't need help?"

"… I'm fine, the Ice King is my best bud ever."

Overcome by her declaration, Finn slowly backed away to his partner, "I guess we were wrong."

"I'm not so sure yet," the dog growled slightly, "I think we'd better keep an eye on this one. We'll be watching you Ice King."

"Fine! Go ahead. You won't find anything," the wizard waddled over to his princess and finally revealed the present he'd been concealing. His claws held out an ice sculpture of a cat with a pretty pink bow tied around it, causing the Snow Princess to alight with joy. Welcoming the gift she hugged it tightly in her arms, "Do you like it sweetums?"

"I love her! I will hug her and squeeze her and name her…" she paused to stare blankly at the crystal blue cat, "Pancake."

Defeated, Jake enlarged his form once again for Finn to ride him home, the sounds of laughter left behind in their wake. Neither hero could shake the feeling of de ja vue, that this was all wrong and they were leaving a helpless maiden in the twisted hands of the wizard. Their pace was subdued down the ice and snow path, passing by another pair of penquins down the mountainside. Finn took notice of their playful squawking as one waddled around in a white rabbit skinned cap. It looked slightly similar to the one he'd skinned off a demon bear and their antics prompted laughter in the teen.

"Hee hee, they have a funny hat," Jake snickered along. Unexpectedly the hooded penguin worked the hat off with his dark flippers and lifted it up towards the hero. Both were unsure of the small creature's reasoning as it quaked and lifted the item closer to the pair. Finally Finn reached a tentative hand out, asking, "For me?"

The penguin quaked and flapped in seeming agreement as it gifted the rabbit hood.

"Thanks little dude," Finn smiled.

"Hey, you think I can have it? You've already got a cool hat," Jake inquired as he continued back to the Candy Kingdom.

_***BREAK***_

It had been over four days since the heroine of Aaa had gone missing. In those days Marshall Lee concluded one truth: that the Candy Kingdom was pretty hopeless without her. How the people had become so dependent on a single frail human girl, he couldn't' understand. There was no one to accomplish dangerous missions, or even menial tasks that no one else would do. The army was completely ineffective and utterly incompetent; and there was no one to rescue a kidnapped prince… or more.

These truths were the reason that the Vampire King was currently alone amidst the mismatched maze of tomes and scrolls of the library. His research partners in crime, Cake and Gumball were off, respectively, saving a prince from the Ice Queen and dealing with civil disputes in the kingdom. At least Cake wasn't rescuing Prince Gumball, because on the first day of Fionna's disappearance, Ice Queen quickly snatched up the candy monarch. With a bit of overkill, Marshall Lee put a damper on that abduction explaining how Gumball was needed for time sensitive purposes. No other warnings or threats were put forward for the other princes though, which in hindsight he should have planned for these continued antics. At least one pompous prince was where he should be. Turtle Prince was cooped up in the library too, doing what he could to help the volatile vampire, which was mostly clean up the messes he left behind.

A guttural groan escaped the vampire's throat as he shut and chucked another book across the room. With barely a clue and time ebbing away, the search for Fionna was becoming a frustrating dead end. On the first night, Marshall attempted to call forth his own dark abilities to simply reopen the gate that had taken her. The only results he had to show for it was a splitting headache and bloodied nose. So the Candy Kingdom pooled together all their resources and connections to any magic user or wizard in the land to try and locate the lost girl, but all had failed.

By the third night, Marshall Lee swallowed his demon pride and called upon his mother for advice. The Lady of Evil Heather Abadeer, surrendered that whatever ripped the human from this world was ancient, otherworldly evil and completely out of their league. With no condolences to give her son, she advised him to stop his fool's quest before returning to the Nightosphere. No better off than they'd started, it was time to turn to down and dirty research for any and every dimension, portal, worm hole and time warp known to Aaa.

"I flippin' hate libraries," Marshall Lee exasperated as he chucked another dusty old book to the floor and slide down further in the unforgiving wood chair.

"That bad sugah?" the familiar drawl of Cake announced her arrival, even though the vampire long since sensed her. Gumball trailed closely behind her, ready to renew their search for the answers.

"I take it you've gleaned nothing fruitful in our absence," the pink prince asked rhetorically. The gesture Marshall used to respond in return was rather offensive to say the least.

"I haven't found crock, but I did try another summoning," raising his palms he displayed a circle triangle and eye inked onto his pale skin, "Opens the gate of truth, but I didn't have anything worth sacrificing."

Despite the casual banter, a dark foreboding washed over the friends again. Gumball and Cake took seats at the study table again, only to stare blankly at the pile of untouched tomes. The silence drew on for a few moments longer before Cake tried to assure them and herself, "We'll find her, don't worry."

"I'm not worried," Marshall Lee scoffed with a hint of anger. More would have been said if the library itself didn't also shake in anger and grumble loudly like the sound of stone grinding stone. All present sat up straight as fire abruptly drew lines in the air over the table, taking on the shape of a stone doorway. The passageway roared as a finely dressed businesswoman stepped out of the threshold and gracefully strode before those gathered.

"Mom?" the teen vampire choked. Cat's tail immediately frizzed up as she hissed at the evil diva and Gumball most un-heroically, rushed behind a nearby bookcase.

"Hi there Marshy," his mother Heather, sang condescendingly.

"Don't call me that." He deadpanned, wishing his axe guitar was a little closer.

"Oh pumpkin butt, I'm your mother. I'll call you whatever I want."

"What are you doing here?" blood red eyes bore holes through the merry demoness. Hopping down, Heater took a seat on the edge of the table, crossing her legs under her finely pressed business skirt, and folder her finely manicured claws.

"I'm here, to help my little vampire," she said as it was the most obvious reason of all. The demon queen's sudden helpfulness was a shock to all. The mother of evil simly smiled wider, like the cat that caught the canary. She gazed towards the cat and prince, ignoring their fearful shaking, "You see my son is a fool on a fool's quest and won't be satisfied until he finds the little human wench. There are plenty of eligible demons out there, but I suppose there's no understanding him."

As she went on Marshall's visage grew as red as he finally gripped his axe guitar in his pale claw. His mother appeared completely oblivious as she reminisced about earlier years with her only son. The vampire reeled back to cleave his overly chatty parent in two when she suddenly produced an item from the breast of her suit.

"A mirror?" Gumball observed as he crept out of hiding and Marshall Lee lowered his weapon. The Mistress of the Nightosphere just smiled proudly as the trio saw themselves reflected, well not Marshall Lee, in the looking glass. The mirror was about the same size as Cake, with black twisting leaves encompassing the glass.

"It's a portal mirror," she offered enthusiastically, "Had to do some spleen gouging to dig it up, but I think it's what you'll need to get you where you need to go. The residual effects of that multiverse being ripped apart should be enough for this little gem to sync up to the same world your little human was taken. Give or take a parallel universe or two. Anyway, take it to the place the portal was opened and the mirror will be your gateway."

Cake's stretchy white arms twisted out to accept the magical gift, but Marshall Lee blocked her, "What's the catch?"

"No catch," his mother feigned insult as she shoved the artifact into her son's arms. "I just can't stand to see you like this over one missing mouth breather."

"Fine," he relented as his mother rubbed his already messy locks, "and how do we get back?"

"No idea," she sang before swiftly warping herself back to the Nightosphere.

Silence once again ruled the library as the three friends stared at each other and their newly obtained magic mirror. It was a surprisingly brief discussion that followed before they struck out back for the Tree House. Even more surprising was when the mirror was carried to the location of Fionna's abduction; the mirror finally came to life. No longer did it reflect its immediate world but instead a lush meadow outside with birds signing in the warm afternoon sun.

"Looks like the meadow outside," Marshall observed, handing the mirror off to Gumball to hold onto.

"Well it's the only thing we've got right now," Cake stared intently into the world beyond the looking glass.

The vampire adjusted his treasured Axe Bass onto his shoulder, standing with the feline in front of the portal. The pink prince looked down at the portal his comrades were about to enter, as a seemingly important fact dawned on him, "It's awfully bright on the other side."

"Whatever. You clearly don't know anything about parallel universes Gumbutt. It's night over here, so it's night everywhere."

"You sure you don't wanna grab an umbrella or something," Cake offered but her suggestion was easily pushed aside. Scooping up the cat in his cold dead hands, Marshall Lee crouched down to aim for the mirror's portal. Prince Gumball braced himself, holding the mystical glass as steady as he could. With a powerful leap, Marshall and Cake sailed into the mirror, instantly gone from the Land of Aaa. The transfer from one land to the next was seamless. The two travelers suddenly appeared from nothingness in blue skies and crashed to the grassy plain below.

The cat yelped a soft sound when she landed, but Marshall instead made a horrible hissing sound. The sun indeed was out on the other side and if the pain wasn't so intense Marshall would have kicked himself for his foolishness. He writhed in an attempt to shield his vampire body from the unforgiving sun. Fortunately Cake was their to react quickly, twisting and stretching her soft fur body over the demon boy to shield him.

"I'm not gonna say I told you so," she lectured as her head and arms made a makeshift hood and her body a cloak for the vampire.

"You just did."

He tried to laugh as the stinging subsided and the burns began to heal themselves. Cake motherly tisked him again as they finally had a moment to inspect their surroundings. The landscape indeed looked a lot like home with the blue sky, vast green meadow and a strange little yellow man staring at the pair like he'd seen a ghost. Immediately Marshall Lee's fierce demon eyes locked on to him as he hissed threateningly, "Hey you! Where's Fionna?"

_*** TO BE CONTINUED ***_

_Author's Note: If anyone knows Korean for real and feels that something Lady said it completely wonky (I did my best and of course limited her speaking), please feel free to correct me. _


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

The sweet respite the inhabitants of the Candy Kingdom were experiencing finally came to an end. While the Ice King's new "girlfriend" still roused suspicion in the heroes, and after over a day of careful surveillance, they couldn't justify the rescue. The mysterious princess seemed for the most part happy, in not a little off in the head. So, for the time being they would leave it alone, because now they had more important tasks at hand.

Several reports had come in earlier that day about a pair of demons that had suddenly appeared in the countryside and were terrorizing the people. Witnesses and victims described a ruthless unknown male vampire and a giant demon leopard. One man said he was ruthlessly manhandled; another reported theft and vandalism from the pair; while another described them as being one monster. The details varied from report to report, especially when Lumpy Space Princess detailed the vampire as "Super Dreamy Sparkly", but perhaps she wasn't a reliable source. The main theme at least was that they were up to no good and that's where our heroes entered.

With his demon blood sword at hand, and his signature hat on his head, Finn and Jake traveled to the edge of the forest. On this adventure, Jake also donned fashionable headgear, in the form of the white rabbit skin hat that they'd received in the Ice Kingdom. Already they'd searched for a couple of hours with a merry skip in their adventuring steps and an improve rap in their hearts.

_Dangerous quest are what we've been wishing_

_So Princess BG set us up with a mission_

_Candy People been running scared outta their heads_

_From evil Vampires lurking under their beds_

"Creepy," Jake abruptly commented ending the rhythm, "Dude hanging out under your bed. Has Marceline ever done that?"

Finn's voice squeaked into fits of laughs, followed soon by his older brother's deeper chuckle. It didn't seem at all like they were on a dangerous quest for a vampire and demon combo, but playing freely in the afternoon.

The joy soon calmed into focus as they neared a larger clearing in the woods. Voices not theirs echoed softly in the distance, causing the heroes to pause. Cautiously Finn's rough fingers wrapped tighter around the red hilt in anticipation. A shallow snarl built in Jake's throat as he fell to all fours, preparing to strike if needed.

The trees and brush suddenly moved way as cream and tan longhaired cat no bigger than Jake, stumbled out into the clearing. The hero's relaxed again, since this cat was defiantly not the demon leopard or twisted vampire they sought. The cat spoke out in a deep feminine accent to a yet unseen party still behind the trees.

"Y'all can't keep roughin' up everyone we bump into. This is not how we'll find her," the cat sternly lectured.

The leaves and branches push aside revealing a tall, slender boy, deathly pale and dark unkempt hair. In general his appearance was laid back wearing thread worn jeans, his sneaker untied and an oversized navy blue hoodie pulled over his head. This pair is certainly just a random encounter the two heroes conclude. Still as an upstanding citizen, Finn knows he must heed warning and cups his hands to his mouth, "Hey you guys!"

The high pitched voice immediately grabbed Cake and Marshall Lee's attention, this being the first encounter of someone beckoning them. Narrowing her blue cat eyes, Cake softly advised her companion, "Don't go plum go jumping that boy now."

An inhuman hiss escaped Marshall Lee's cold lips, only for the cat to hear.

"There's an evil vampire and giant demon leopard making trouble around here!" Finn readily offered to the strangers across the clearing, "If you see him, stay away and come find us, okay?"

Curious glances passed between vampire and cat.

"Yeah this guy is one bad dude! Ripped the face right off of someone," the golden hound offers with a smile. Finn turned to the golden hound questionably, "Did he?"

"Naw, I don't think so. Just sounds really dramatical," Jake humored. Casually he reaches a hind leg up to satisfy an itch he'd been suffering. The bunny hat, while stylish in his opinion, was really irritating his velvet ears. Not to mention muffling the sounds around him. In response the hat wiggles violently against the rapid scratching, the floppy ears waving to all.

The waving instantly entranced Marshall Lee as he glared at the hypnotic bobbing of the white rabbit bunny ears. Red vampire eyes darkened into thin slivers, and his teeth grit into a sharp fanged snarl. Cake sensed the murderous intent suddenly radiate from the teen vampire. The overwhelming sense of murderous intent set her furry tail aflare and practically petrified her to the spot. Somehow she'd missed the bunny eared hat on the mangy mutt, her attention instead on the boy in blues. His fleshy peach skin, and familiar blue eyes made him look suspiciously human, but there was no way. Her eyes finally shifted to the golden canine, immediately recognizing the familiar fur cap he donned. The name was on the tip of her tongue, but Marshall beat her to it.

"Fionna," he snarls under his breath, bursting forwards towards the unsuspecting heroes.

"Marshall!" Cake protests the attack, aware that she is helpless to stop him now. Vampire Lord is already blur of speeding dark blue and red; in the blink of an eye he is looming above the boy and his dog.

"Jake!" the Hero cries out as his best friend is torn from the ground and flung ruthlessly into an unforgiving tree. It all happened so fast that the canine never cried out before he was slumped over the tree, confused and dazed. The vampire slowly drifts down to the earth, the white rabbit hat clenched tightly in his fist. Demonic power and raging emotions swirl around him like tangible steam. His shoulders are tense and every inch of his is ready to strike.

Finn can barely tear his sight away from his fallen brother, his hand shaking around his demon blade. He sees now his error and realizes he's stumbled upon his enemy quite unknowingly. Heroic as he is though, his first step is trembling in anger and maybe even fear. Yet he takes another step and another until he is fully charging his enemy with a strangled battle cry.

"It's you!"

Turning back almost casually, Marshall Lee barely registers the loud human boy accusing him of something, he doesn't care what. The hero's red demon blade swinging wildly at him, but he has already moved aside with little effort. Normally his crimson eyes would be bored with such a little pest, but he's already decided this pest needs to be squashed. His eyes lust for blood, his claw lashing out for vengeance.

From afar, Cake watches in frozen horror, unable to move to stop the madness unfolding. Certainly, Marshall was going to kill these strangers… maybe they deserved it. They had Fionna's hat and she hated to admit that her first thought was to blame them for taking her sister away. Obviously Marshall Lee had a similar conclusion, but than Cake doubted. What if this was all a grave misunderstanding that was escalating into senseless bloodshed. Didn't Marshall Lee stop to think that?

Cake remembered that Marshall Lee didn't stop to think about much, if ever. She hoped, no prayed that this feeling of dread was wrong. That Marshall Lee wasn't about to slaughter than and was just scaring the poop out of them instead. That was a big 'if'.

Just a few feet away, Jake groaned as he started to clear his head of the sucker punch he'd received. Every inch of his golden furred body ached and complained as he clumsily crawled forwards. It was still hard to focus on his surroundings, the sky and earth doubling in his vision. Pausing for a moment to shake his head clear again, he noticed the crème and tan cat nearby, anxiously viewing the fight unfolding. Cake had only gotten within a few feet of Marshall Lee and the boy before the vampire got his death grip on the youth. At the moment all she could do was call for him to stop his attack this instant, but he seemed to not hear the cat.

"Y'know," Jake slurred, drawing the felines attention, "For a leopard demon, you're a lot lumpier than I imagined."

"Excuse me?" Cake hissed, her tail poofing out and eyes dilated.

The canine grew white when he finally processed what he'd said, but it was too late as she slapped him, claws out, "That came out wrong! Ahhh!"

A swing and a miss of the hero's sword passed by the vampire again. Effortlessly Marshall Lee danced by the shorter boy's attacks, his demon eyes shining under the shadow of the navy hood. With each stroke, the mortal shouted brazenly at the vampire, "You're the one causing all the trouble! I'll teach you not to mess with me! No one does that to my buddy! You're going straight back to the Nightoshpere!"

A small twitch was Finn's only warning before Marshall Lee captured his fragile neck and slammed him into the earth. Vampire fanged lips whispered deep and gravely against the human's ear, "Where is she?"

If Finn wanted to answer, there was no way he could.

Marshall Lee briefly squeezed down on the trachea just to hear one more satisfying struggled gasp from the boy. Definitely Finn kept a stiff upper lip, his poker face inspite of certain demise quite admirable. Even so, the fear this one perspired was absolutely intoxicating to his vampire senses, and he knew that Finn was beyond afraid.

"Where's Fionna?" he pressed again.

"Dn ne," Finn wheezed, forcing Marshall Lee to relinquish some of the pressure around the human's neck.

"I don't," Finn coughed, flexing his hand around his sword. In an unexpected (to Marshall Lee at least) offense, Finn struck out against his opponent with the hilt of the demon sword, painfully slugging him the temple. Both vampire and human rolled in separate directions, quick to regain their ground. Marshall Lee couldn't believe the kid was brave or stupid enough to strike him like that and risk getting his throat ripped out in the process. What was worst was he hit like Fionna, which equated to it hurting a lot.

"I don't know what the fungus you're talking about," wheezed Finn, still struggling to fill his lungs.

"Really?" A feral sneer graced the vampire, "Maybe if I hum a few bars…"

Recklessly Finn charged at the demon again, met with equal enthusiasm from his foe. With a wide swing the demon sword sliced through the belly of Marshall Lee's blue hoodie, but if he actually cut flesh, the vampire gave no sign. In the same moment Marshall Lee followed through with a solid punch to the human's face. Skin bruised and blood flew, but the hero spun with the punch and attacked again on the roundabout.

Leaping up and hovering in the air, Marshall Lee easily avoided the next stroke and gracefully landed on the flat of the blade. Finn gasped, knowing he was being toyed with by the vampire weightlessly standing over the blood sword and mocking him. The vampire hissed, and Finn growled in frustration as he pulled back. The hero was starting to lose his cool, infuriated that this average vampire was making such easy work of them. For Glob sakes, he'd bested Hunson Abadeer, lord of the Nightosphere and this vampire was a 'nobody' with half the class and badly dressed.

Grinning, Marshall Lee flew passed Finn, clawing up his face and ripping his bearskin hat away. With another stroke he sliced the human across the chest, tearing his blue shirt and sending him fumbling backwards. Finn made every effort not to cry out, but he was starting to tire and the cuts and blood stung his eyes. The vampire examined the blood on his fingertips, licking his lips with his twisted tongue.

Finn saw enough to squeak in fear before the vampire lunged at him, knocking him once again into the grassy floor. An ice cold hand pushed up the boys head while the other pushed down on his shoulder to immobilize him.

"Start talking," hissed Marshall Lee as his cold breath washed over Finn. No words came from Finn as he had no answer to give this murderous creature. He didn't understand what this vampire wanted, or even who he was looking for. So Finn closed his eyes and waited for the vampire to tear into him. This wasn't like Marceline playfully messing around, this one was out for blood, out for the kill. At least he went out fighting he mused.

"Hey butthead!" a familiar voice interrupted, followed by the unnatural twang of a guitar and the deep thud of something solid hitting another solid. "Get off my servant!"

Immediately Finn's eyes opened, his adversary gone and replaced with a curvy figure haloed by the sun above. One hand balanced a double edged axe slung over their shoulder, while the other hand reached down in offering. Finn readily accepted as he was briskly yanked to his feet, though he cringed in pain as soon as he was upright.

"You okay Finn?" she smiled an arrogant grin on her pale grey face.

"Yeah, thanks Marceline." Finn appreciated, using the blood sword to steady his wobbly legs. Marceline, Queen of all vampires, was never a more welcome sight to the youth's eyes. Despite having discarded her parasol, she remained well covered in her mismatched ensemble on this particularly sunny day. Today she rocked out a short brimmed newsboy's cap over her unruly raven hair. A black fishnet tank top under an animal print tee, with opera gloves concealing the rest of her arms. Loud bright red shorts over stripped stockings and floppy red sneakers over her eternally cold toes.

"Can't believe you had this party and didn't invite me," Marceline flippantly joked still keeping a keen eye on the vampire she'd putted across the field. She was relieved that she hadn't dented her axe bass over his thick head. She knew she'd hit him with enough force to kill a mortal being and yet he was already stagger back onto his feet. She'd have to wrap up with Finn quickly.

"Well, we only heard about him today," Finn apologized as he rubbed a hand through his dirty blonde hair. His fingers painfully brushed up against a lump he hadn't realized he had until just then.

"I know, I just heard about him too," Marceline confirmed, turning her back to Finn, firmly placing herself between the vampire and human. "Some punk-butt vampire slumping up in my territory? You know I gotta get me a piece of that beat down."

"So no offense hero, but vampire thing, I think I'll take it from here. Maybe you should go help out the Wonderpets and the mess they made meantime."

Finn incoherently replied his blessing for the Queen to pick up his fight. It took a lot of concentration for the hero to find the sideline where Jake and Cake were entangled, literally in a stalemate. Another time, Finn would have been surprised by the cats magical stretching abilities twisted around with the dogs. For now he just crashed to the ground to witness what two incredibly powerful vampires could do.

"Hey there sexy," Marshall Lee smirked, pressing a hand to the gash on his temple. His new challenger is unflustered by the compliment, overconfidence bubbling out of her core. His fanged smile widens as he studies her, a hand on her hip and axe bass in the other hand. He finally decides, "You look good enough to eat."

"And you look like something the Nightosphere just barfed up." She retorted dryly.

Her insult affected him about as much as his flattery to her.

"You know, as much as I'd like to stay and play, I'm on a bit of a time crunch." The vampire teen leans back in the air, slouching lazily, his demeanor completely changed. Marceline's response to his laxness is to tighten the grip on her axe bass with both hands. The Vampire Queen knows a deceptive play when she one, being one of her specialties as well. Noting her unwavering resolve, Marshall Lee reaches around and underneath the back of the hoodie, unsnapping a strap and drawing down his Axe Guitar. With practiced movements, he twirls the weapon crafted instrument into his hand, because at heart it is still a deadly axe. Marceline gasps at the sight of the similar looking weapon to her own beloved heirloom. He assumes her shock as recognition to his identity as the Vampire King, realizing she's now in over her head.

"Don't you know who I am pretty vamp?" Marceline grinds in annoyance, itching to tear the smile off this insolent vampire's face.

"Don't really give a slug," he answers plainly.

Raising her treasured axe bass overhead, Marceline suddenly kicks off the air to catapult herself at her foe. Axe blade grinds and sparks against axe blade as she calls announces herself, "I'm Marceline, Queen of the Vampires. The last name you'll ever hear!"

A burst of laughter erupts from Marshall's throat as he disengages his blade from hers and sweeps under her feet, "There is no vampire queen!"

Hovering over him, Marceline kicks out towards his head, but he deftly catches the sole of her sneaker. Tightening his hold, he pulls her down closer to gloat in her face, "I should know, I killed her, just like I'm killing you."

Marceline's free foot hooks around to slam into his ribcage, sending both of them thrashing across to the ground. From the sides Finn flinches, his instincts begging him to help Marceline out anyway he can. Realistically though he already sees the ugly truth. This vampire was never really fighting him, just toying with a weak mortal who he could have easily snapped in half like a toothpick. The vampires collide again, their axes screaming against one another and Finn realizes that his fight was a joke.

Guitar strings screech and whine as Marshall Lee presses down harder against his female counterpart. Her knees buckle as she struggles against his brute strength, it being a while since anyone in Ooo could outmatch her. One knee hits the ground and Marshall Lee twists and dislodges the family Axe Bass from Marceline's fingers.

"Ah!" she dives underneath him as he slashes at her, kicking out at the base of his spin before he can turn. The vampire beauty doesn't break as she next reaches up to grab a handful of his navy hood and expose him to the sun.

His inhuman howl is immediate as daylight burns and punishes his undead flesh. It's not a winning tactic, and certainly underhanded, but it gives Marceline the time she needs to retrieve her weapon. Except he miraculously catches her ankle in midflight, flinging her like a discus out of reach of her goal.

"Marcy!" Finn exclaims as tosses his demon sword to her. Marceline deftly flips over to right herself and catch the crimson blade, twisting the blade around as well. It's not a moment too soon as Marshall Lee screams out at her, protective hood back in place, and face contorting demonically. With a slightly longer reach and lithe grace, Marceline capably slices through his arm carrying the knockoff axe guitar. The gash and tear of clothing again exposes Marshall Lee to the bright star's searing light.

"Marshall Lee!" Cake shrieked out, quickly but carefully working to unknot herself from her canine nemesis.

His axe lost and searing pain overwhelming him, Marshall Lee crashes into the ground, knocking up soil and grass. His blood red eyes lock darkly onto Marceline as his form shifts more and he releases his wounded arm. The sun immediately licks at his naked flesh again, but he bears it with only a slight wince.

Marceline again gasps at the sizzling and smoking burning of vampire meat. Instinctually she begins to shift into a more lupine form, she'll be the one to tear him limb from limb if she must. The vampires meet again, fangs and claws maiming, blood spraying as they sliced into each other.

"Marceline!" Now Finn cries. If Jake's yellow paw hadn't snagged his wrist, the youth would already be in the heart of the battlefield. "Jake, I have to help her!"

"I know buddy, just give me a moment," the canine pleaded, his leg twisting free of Cake's scruffy neck.

"Watch it ya mutt!" Cake hisses as his foot knocks into her cheek. "I'm coming Marshall Lee, just hold on."

Marceline wraps her arms around her foe from behind, throwing him back in a diving suplex. Finn 'oo's' as the neck crunchy maneuver, impressed by her brute strength, flexibility and the fact she dropped him from 20feet up.

"Marshall Lee?" Jake sounds, a curious brow raised to the feline. "That name. Why do I know that name?"

"Probably because he's the VAMPIRE KING!" Cake spat. The two animals finally managed to free their tangled bodies, sending both onto the butts as they liberated themselves. The cat tenderly stroked her mangled tail, attempting to comb the fur back into place.

"Nah, he can't be. Because Marcy over their killed the Vampire King… well, at some point in time," Jake rubbed his jowls as he tried to remember the details the Queen had provided so long ago.

With a fist full of her long raven hair, Marshall Lee brings her head down onto his rising knee. Blindly the Vampire Queen swings her sword across his belly, somersaulting away upon release. Her wear is easily shone as she stumbles backward, landing on her butt with a painful, "Omph!" The day, she decides, is severally limiting the powers she has in her arsenal, power that should easily eclipse this upstart.

"This guy's just some punk that needs to crawl back to the Nightosphere."

"No," Cake disagrees, her eyes passionately gazing towards the battle, "He's not going anywhere until he finds her."

"Finds who?" Finn softly inquires.

"Fionna," Cake names, venom underlying her cat tongue.

Unexpectadly, Jake snorts a laugh, "Fionna. That's a stupid name."

"Say what?" the feline's stretching arms wrap around the dog's biceps, the coiled mess they'd been in prior already forgotten.

"That's the name the stupid old Ice King used in his story," Finn adds, attempting to pull cat and dog apart again.

"The who?"

"Ice King. Everyone knows the Ice King." Jake answers quit plainly, "He's the number one predator of Ooo… kidnapper of princess's and in general a nuisance."

"Kidnapper… sugah that's the Ice QUEEN's favorite pastime." Corrects the cat.

"So you have read Ice King's story. Dude, I'm sorry."

"What? Nevermind," Cake organizes her thoughts before pointing a claw at the dog, "You had Fionna's hat! Where is she?"

Both heroes shake their heads in confusion, not knowing where she is.

"Then where did you get the hat?" she changes tactics.

"It was a gift."

"From who?"

"The penguins!" Finn defends.

"Did you see a girl with them?"

Neither responds. A sickening lump growing in their throats as they remember. The mystery princess from yesterday, were their instincts correct all along? Had they really globbed up?

"She's got long blond hair, blue eyes, big ole front teeth and she's human." Cake described in desperation.

"We saw a girl," Jake starts, his brow knit in guilty worry, "at the Ice King's Palace, but she said she was the Snow Princess. She couldn't be human; there are no humans besides Finn. Is she?"

A shrill scream interrupts the interrogation, all parties focus back on the undead battle. Marceline lays face down in the grass, wisps of smoke filtering through her concealing hair. The Vampire King skips up to her, swiftly kicking her in the side, rolling her over onto her back. His pale body is bloody and smoking, the hooded jacket he'd procured barely held together anymore. The sunlight is unbearable painful to Marshall Lee, but somehow he moves forward, robotically ignoring the pain.

Marceline is doing no better, cut and bruised on every inch of her body. Whatever force or demon drives this man on is beyond her. His converse slams down onto her sword wielding arm, smashing the bone and forcing her to relinquish her hold on the blade. Casually he takes it in his bloodied claws, raising it up to deliver that final blow. He'll cleave her head from her shoulders and see the end to this phony vampire queen.

Fortunately, her untimely demise is halted by the cries of both vampire's names echoed in the same breath. Finn selflessly blanket's himself over Marceline's fallen form, ready to endure the killing blow of the demon blade if he must. White and tan arms and legs encircle the vampire king's head and body, blinding him, but also protecting him from the sunlight again.

"Finn? Get away," Marceline weakly demands in aggravation. Whether it was because he was traipsing on her fight or protecting her or because he was just a weak human, the hero would never figure out.

"That's enough Marshall Lee!" Cake reprimands against the flailing vampire teen, his claws ruthlessly tearing into her arms. He incoherently screams something at his feline companion, the bloodlust too high in his system. The cat yowls as he claws at her restraining arms again, fighting the pain to not let him go. It surprises her when Jake hug's the vampire's waist, twisting and coiling his own magic body around to help Cake manage. Jake's deep voice coerces, "Whoa there! Easy dude. Let's be cool and talk this out."

"Marshall Lee, they didn't kidnap Fionna," Cake inserts, feeling that the vampire is either starting to calm down, or he's just too tired out to struggle anymore.

"Yeah man, we don't kidnap girls," Jake agrees, "But we know who does!"

"Where?" he finally chokes out, collapsing to his knees. The bonds of the two magical animals start to slacken and unwind, enough to free him, but quickly recapture him if he reacts badly again. Marceline leans on Finn as they gingerly approach the others, the queen once again having her treasured Axe Bass at her side.

"Where is Fionna?" the boy vampire exhales from his nonfunctional lungs.

"In Ice King's castle, Marshall Lee," the hero looks off to the north where the frozen mountains are, towards the Ice Kingdom.

He looks from the human, to the dog and finally his cat companion, trying to read the truth in their words. Finally he concedes and nods that he understands. Marceline however seems to understand even less and her face scrunches up before she blurts out, "Did you say Marshall Lee? And Fionna? And… what the cram is going on?"

"Ice King kidnapped Fionna, so they've come to rescue her." Finn smiles broadly, "That must make you Cake."

"Y…yes," Cake hesitates. She's pretty sure proper introductions were missed, so she wasn't sure when they caught her name, seeing as how she's missed the names of the boy and his dog.

"Fionna. Cake. Marshall Lee," Marceline repeats, running her hands over her checks, "Slam a cow, you're real?"

_*** TO BE CONTINUED ***_

_ Author's Notes: Happy Belated Valentines Day everyone… even though this chapter has like, nothing really to do with love. What a challenging chapter this was. Bringing it to a close was even harder. I envisioned a fight between the two vampire royalties to be akin to two giants battling it out. And no offense to Finn, he's a sturdy human and all, but if Marceline or Marshall Lee REALLY fought him He'd be dead. Again took some advice and gave Marshalls' mom the name of Heather Abadeer after Moonstar1046's naming. Again thank you to everyone following, faving and reviewing this._


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

In the grasslands surrounding lush forest three friends and two travelers recuperated and plotted. The sun was finally making its decent into the horizon, painting the sky in brilliant orange, violets and pinks. The moment would have been perfect if not for other more pressing matters on the group's thoughts.

Jake tenderly wrapped his human brother's lumped up head in a bandage before the boy replaced his bearskin hat over his messy blonde locks. Cake lay at Finn's side as she licked the cuts her arms had suffered during Marshall Lee's rampage. Said vampire and Vampire Queen were sore, but already healed due to their supernatural demon blood. Marceline sat eagerly on her knees as she discussed recent revelations with her male counterpart. She had him in rapt silence as he rubbed his hand through his ebony hair in attempt to make his brain process this discovery.

"So, wait…" the vampire boy bite his lip in concentration, "You know all about us because your Ice King… writes fan fiction about us?"

"Uh hun," Marceline grins enthusiastically.

"…"

Cake's triangle ears flick as she eavesdrops from her spot. The human and his dog watch in gripped anticipation for the vampire's reaction. On top of his being a powerful demon, his unpredictability made everyone a tad bit wary.

"Why?" Marshall Lee finally blurted out. Marceline shrugged in response, easily assuming, "He's bored I guess."

"Glad our old hag hasn't caught the writing bug," one of the cat's eyes opens.

"Do you think the Ice King's brain is on some cosmic wavelength that showed him the other side?" Jake wonders aloud.

"He may not even realize that what he's seeing is real," Finn pondered what else those wizard eyes were capable of seeing. If he perceived twisted demons and specters every waking moment, perhaps he could know all alternate realities possible. His canine companion was quietly sober at the memory of alternate worlds. He witnessed a world similar to their Ooo, but horribly twisted, one that Finn was fortunately made to forget like it had never transpired.

"Oh he thinks… no he must have known they are real," Marceline finishes.

"Who cares?!" Marshall Lee explodes, before storming off in frustration, "Fionna is stuck up there with that old pervert doing… Glob knows what," his claw furiously points to the north in approximation of the Ice Mountains.

"I doubt…" Marceline was immediately cut off.

"We're burning daylight sitting around on our buns!"

"Wasn't that the point honey? The cover of night? No sizzling vampires?" Cake rushed to Marshall Lee's side. He kept his forked tongue tight and dark eyes focused as he trudged onwards. Soon Marceline floated casually to his side, Finn and Jake noisily bringing up the rear. Cake sighed in mild frustration, raising herself up to meet the vampire eye to eye, "Listen Marshall, I know you're worried. I am too. But if their Ice King is anything like our Queen, it's best that we work together."

"King or Queen, they're both just chumps to me. And I'm not worried about Fi!"

"You are so," Marceline cackled, rolling around as she drifted forwards. The uncharacteristic blush dotted the vampires pale cheeks didn't go unnoticed by the party. So Marshall Lee resolved to snarl at the female vampire to silence her.

"Am not! I'm just itching to kick in this dumb wizards teeth in," he denied, but Marceline didn't buy it, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. That twinkle sparked in young Finn and Jake's eyes too, watching from the rear believing they saw the truth too.

Marshall Lee interpreted it as a challenge, so Cake quickly gripped his cheeks in her paws and turned his head away.

"Ngh! I will not have this started again. We're all gonna be friends here," Cake demanded in a strict mothering tone, "Marshall Lee apologize to Marceline."

"For what?"

"For picking a fight with her!"

"No!" indignantly Marshall Lee refused, sending Marceline into a new fit of giggles. Finn and Jake grinned in memory of the battle while Cake was aghast at the lot of them.

"It's cool," Marceline assured, "It was a good fight."

"Y'all are impossible," Cake slumped, thankful another conflict was averted.

The last sliver of light sank beyond the horizon by the time the adventurers reached the bass of the snow covered mountains. Hastily they raced up the slopes to the highest peak of the Ice King's home. They rushed in through the icy archway, senses heightened and weapons ready, immediately locating their goal.

The beloved missing heroine was easily located, sitting comfortably on Ice King's fur covered bed with penguin Gunter in her lap. Cake audibly sighed in relief seeing her baby sister unharmed. With fist clenched Marshall Lee prepared to deliver the butt kicking he'd promised, but pale fingers snagged his shirt collar. Marceline's normally playful eyes gazed upon him soulfully and she slightly shook her head, "chill, kay?" That look he couldn't understand, but still he lowered his stance for the vampire queen.

Fionna meanwhile, intently watched the bearded old man that those new to Ooo could only assume to be Ice King. His fingers tickled the worn keys of his electric piano and sang slightly off key,

Oh, Oh Fionna

You have touched my heart

Oh, Oh Fionna

Nothing will ever keep us apart

The feline flinched at the lyrics, surprised at how curiously familiar they sounded. Finn flinched at the poor vocalization and instead drew his demon blade, announcing their arrival, "Ice King!"

A mismatched chord echoed in the ice cavern as the king started at the arrival of his uninvited guest, "Seriously guys?"

"Fionna!" Cake rejoiced, but the human looked on placidly, unhearing.

"Oh hey," Ice King gasped at the arrival of the crème colored cat and the masculine vampire, "Cake… and Marshall Lee! I don't remember summoning you guys here... but whatever."

"You are in so much doo doo Ice King!" Jake declared while the Ice King obliviously scurried towards the stolen girl. He possessively pulled her against his shoulder, her sight never straying from him. There was no spark in her once brilliant adventurous eyes, only complacency and docile obedience.

"You lied to us… again!" Finn accused.

"I did no such thing! Fionna is meant to be here with me, isn't that right honey bunny?" the old codger found his arm empty, his Snow Princess spirited away. Urgently he circled around for his missing prize, murmuring incoherently in his panic. Finally his white wizard eyes drifted upwards to see snarling fangs and his beloved in the arms of Marshall Lee. Ice King's frown deepened as Marshall Lee guided them down and out of reach of his cold clutches, "Waitaminute. I told you no FioLee shipping this house Mr?"

Gunter squawked, throwing his flippers up in aggravation before waddling out of the way. The Vampire King barely concealed a slight blush under a horrified rising of one eyebrow. Ice King returned his attention to the party crashers, the feline sibling already fretting and smothering on her sister. Her eyes watered as she took in the state of her sister. Even though her friends and family were right in front of her, Fionna continued standing like a lifeless lump. It was almost as if she was looking at strangers.

"Oh sugar, we're here. We're taking you home," Cake stroked her long hair.

"No!" blue claws sparked with icy power.

"You can't keep her here!" Finn blocked the potential attack with his person.

"No she's mine," childishly protests the king, "we're in love and she doesn't wanna go anywhere with you stinky party poopers! Tell them, Fionna."

"I don't want to leave. I love being here with Ice King. I love…" her voice trails quietly until Marshall Lee firmly takes her shoulders and shakes her.

"Fi, what the heck? Snap out of it ya dork!"

She never cries out the more violently he jostles her or angers when he howls in her face, just like a lifeless ragdoll. Only empty eyes stare look on, seeking out her master. Everything was completely messed up, this thing… this perfect little doll… this shell was not their Fionna. Undead hands slide down her cold arms, causing the callous demon to wince at how lifeless she really was.

"What did you do?" he demanded soft and hoarse without glancing up.

"Why does everyone keep asking me that?" the old man paced around exasperated before his cold white eyes locked on the maiden's again, "Nothing! Nada! Zippo! Fionna stays here with me end of discussion. Fionna, come here!"

Obediently she obeyed his command, feet drawing moving readily towards the cold man. Cake's paws reach out to stop her sister's hypnotic march, but she's already stopped after just two steps. She won't budge any further with her hand tightly locked in Marshall Lee's. Still compelled forwards, but with no progress to be made, chained to an unmoving wall like the Vampire King.

"None of that!" Ice King orders, hurrying to forcibly break up the hand holding couple. Instead, Marshall Lee raises up both their hands for all to see, a smarmy smirk on his lips, "It's not me."

Marshall Lee's hand was slacken, not a participant in any hand holding. It was all Fionna, tightly gripping the underside of his wrist instead, refusing to let go. This was the human girl, the heroine of Aaa they'd come to rescue. Whatever spell that was cast on her, she was in her own way fighting it. Skillfully Marshall Lee twirled Fionna back to his side, her dress rippling gracefully, long snowflake frosted hair tangling over her shoulders.

The short dance set the Ice King into a tizzy, growling and preparing to turn the vampire into an icicle. It was a blood red blade at his nose that reminded him that there were other adversaries to contend with. With a comical cry and flying kick from Jake, the crown of power was knocked off the balding head. The royal headpiece rolled across the floor under Marceline, who scooped it up and twirled it around one finger. The Ice King murmured under his breath, but slouched down in defeat regardless.

"Ice King," Fionna whimpered, twisting her shoulders feebly to squirm out of Marshall Lee's grip. His chest growls softly in an attempt to quiet her struggles, only to have her retaliate with a sharp heel to his shin. Readjusting his hold, he levitated them up just a few inches so she'd lose some leverage.

"Undo whatever spell you've cast wizard," he demanded. Expectably he refused and denied knowing of any spell. It was becoming exceedingly irritating to play his game, but Marceline expertly kept her cool. No one here knew or remembered, but she'd been dealing with the Ice King's nonsense longer than anyone in Ooo.

Marceline scrutinized to girl with rapt interest, receiving a complacent stare in return. Her claws slither gently under the girls chin, turning her head left than right. She exhales a curious sigh, furrowing her brow as she stumbles upon a discovery. There's doubt in her mind, that there's anyway the feeble old man could achieve anything of this magnitude. Regardless Marceline draws in a deep breath around her, drawing in the essence that is the girl, much like her devil father devours souls.

No aura of her human soul appears.

"Simon, what did you do?" she straightens, even though she has the answer. Her male counterpart has the answer too, tightly squeezing his fingers into the girl's flesh, "You removed her soul?"

"No I didn't," Ice King persistently denies.

"No, it's sealed," the vampire queen corrects, "She'd be a pile of blubbering goo otherwise."

"Seems pretty gooey to me," Jake frowned. Marceline's own frown deepens as she turns to the cornered king.

"How did you learn to seal her soul? How did you even bring her here? This is way beyond you," to emphasize her point she waves the crown about, "Tell us!"

"Don't wanna," Ice King shifts and wiggles behind the duo guarding him.

"Ice King!" Finn's blade taps the tip of his blue nose. His shaggy white brow knits tighter, resolved not to reveal any secrets. "How did you do it?"

"I don't remember," his final refusal brings Marshall Lee to action. Carefully passing Fionna to Cake, he fluidly shifts his form, morphing into a large winged monster. Before Marceline can thwart him, the vampire king has the old man pinned to the cavern. Shards of ice break loose, tinkling and shattering against the ground. The vampire kings friendly advice in not so much, "Than start thinking."

"Cripes," Marceline curses, dividing her focus between Ice King, Marshall Lee and the now struggling Fionna. Her whining protests are quite irritating, if not a bit sad as she loyally attempts to reach her imperiled king. Orange and white arms stretch and loop tighter around her, and attempt to soothe her with calming words.

"Fionna, help," Ice King pleads, angering the vampire enough to add more pressure to his already constricted windpipe. It wouldn't take much to extinguish the old wizard's life Marshall Lee knows. There is no mercy for those that cross the vampire king, especially not this tiresome old fool, probably not even his world's Ice Queen. Still something holds him back, and it's not the fact Marceline is trying to pry his arm away from the Ice King's throat.

"You're not going to get anything that way," Marceline insists, instead being easily flung into an adjacent wall. Quick to right herself, she flips her dark locks out of her way, cursing the arrogance of this doppelganger. Her form steadily morphs into an equally gruesome form to match and hopefully exceed her alternate self's strength.

"Why can't you leave us alone?" Ice King wailed, "I… she's happy, we're happy!"

"Of course she's is, because you told her to be!" Marshall Lee snarls, suddenly releasing his captive. The sudden release causes Marceline pause, hoping that a repeat of the days earlier rampage is not necessary.

The old king slumps down onto the floor, coughing but quick to scramble away from the angered creature. Still he tries to get the last word in, "Fionna and I love…"

"That thing is not Fionna!" Marshall Lee gestured back wildly. His head drops down, messy black locks covering his demon eyes. The cavern becomes eerily silent. Fionna's whimpering protest have ceased, her eyes finding her reflection on the icy floor.

"That thing is just an empty shell. A living doll without a soul that just does and says whatever you want. You took away everything that makes Fionna… Fionna. So, no… you don't get to talk about love and Fionna, you dirty old freak."

This time there are no protests from the kidnapper of princesses, and maybe, just maybe the slightest hint of guilt. He regresses against the wall, pulling his knees to his chest like a child being punished in the corner. Marceline gently places a hand on Marshall Lee's shoulder, showing a fanged but kind smile. She than turns to the Ice King, calmly imploring, "You don't want that right, Simon? You want the real Fionna, not a fake? So tell us what you did?"

Begrudgingly, the king finally loosens his tongue, "It was a wish granter. He lives in a hidden temple on an island that's not on any map somewhere to the north. He granted my wish for Fionna."

"And that's all? You just wished for Fionna?"

"Yeah, that's all."

"What were your exact words?" Marceline pressed, bodily putting herself between the king's of Ice and Vampires. He murmurs thoughtfully to himself, gathering his thoughts to recall, "I um… I wished for Fionna to be here, to be mine and mine alone. Body and soul."

"Then where's her soul at than Ice King?" Finn questioned. It was like pulling teeth getting anything usable out of the old geezer.

"I don't know!" he vehemently insisted, "This is how she was the minute she got here. I thought… I thought…"

The wizard trailed off absently, unable or unwilling to continue that thought. With a heavy sigh Marceline gathered the group to the center of the room, "I guess that's it."

"But how do we fix this?" Cake implored only to receive a shrug.

"Will take her to Princess Bubblegum," Finn spoke confidently, "PB will know what to do. PB can fix anything."

_***BREAK***_

"I can't fix this," Bubblegum, monarch of the vast Candy Kingdom admitted unhappily. It had been hours since they'd left the Ice Kingdom and its king to wallow in his own self loathing and pity. They were thankful that Fionna seemed a bit more willing to go along especially after Marceline promised that once she was better they could go see the Ice King again. It was nothing short of bizarre, watching the teenage girl regress to something so childlike, innocent and trusting. There must have been more to the wish than Ice King would or could let on. Maybe her soul was literally attached to him or maybe it was somewhere else completely to keep her at this level of semi-functionality. What was important now though, was learning how to make it whole again.

"I'm sorry, but I can't even begin to understand the complexities of separating a soul from a body. Much less that of a human being. Really souls should be more of your thing Marceline."

The princess glanced over at the human girl, sitting patiently on the hospital bed. Though her hair was still tied up in pigtails, her princess dress had been changed to a simple hospital gown. Her older feline sister held her hand while she absently stroked the cat's soft fur, much like she'd been doing for the penguins. Finn and Jake looked on with worried anticipation, while Marshall Lee found himself a dark corner to brood in.

"I would love to agree with you Peebs, but I can't even draw her soul out to put it back. I'm not even sure my dad could," Marceline admits, seeing the eager looks amended, "I am not calling him here either to try."

Thoughtful silence filled the room.

"What if we take her to the wish granter?" Finn humbly suggested. It seemed like the clearest path to a solution. If this wish granter was the cause of this whole episode, than certainly they could unwish it. Never mind that they didn't know who or what the wish granter was, where he was, if he was even still there and what dangers had to be overcome to get there. Not that danger was any concern for these seasoned adventurers.

"Un-uh," Cake sat up in protest, "Not with my baby sister like this."

"She certainly seems unstable," Bubblegum agreed. The point was proven when Fionna asked with anxious concern, "Are we going to see the Ice King soon?"

"No, not yet sweetie," her sister rubbed her paws across her hand. That frozen jerk did quite a number on her, altering her personality so severely and basically making himself a lifeline to her.

"Then we bring the wish granter to her," Jake suggested next. That seemed the most logical next step, but both vampires's frowned deeply.

"Just trek off blindly for an island to the north, that's not on any map and may not even be there?" Marshall Lee rained on their proverbial parade.

"Well there's that," Marceline recognized the obstacles, but really, what kind of vampire didn't love a challenge? Weren't the lot of them adventurers here? "But you haven't contributed any other ideas yet, have you Mr. Broody McBrooder?"

"Don't call me that," he warned.

"Stop brooding."

"Whatever."

"It's settled," Finn decided for the entire group, "We'll go find this wish granter together and wish Fionna back to the way she was."

"Or beat the tar out of him until he does," Jake punched his fist together.

Certainly if the Ice King could find the wish granter, than it would be a piece of cake for them. But than again, nothing is ever as easy as it seems.

_*** TO BE CONTINUED ***_

_Author's Notes: Holy cows! Look at all the favs and reviews I just got. Especially by peoples who I've read their fan fictions too. It's true; reviews really do motivate the writer. I could use motivation too… since I rewrote this chapter a few times. I'm still not 100% satisfied, and kept cutting stuff out just to stay on track. _

_I feel the upcoming journey to the mysterious island to the north that isn't on any map, will also be challenging. I'm not ready to tie a nice neat bow on this story quite yet… the wish granter/genie will be a challenge to deal with in his own way. While sipping java. Also PB and Marcy need to have their mini adventure in babysitting Fionna._

_Also, even though I didn't tag this story as FioLee... it's pretty obvious, it's FioLee. Also FinnFlame, and probably Bubbline (still deciding)... I'm not sure if I can find a way to sneak FP into the story at all though._

_Meanwhile, I'm also plugging the adventure time illustrations I've done. Especially the Marceline/Simon and Marshall Lee/Simone work. It's a little twist on the expected._

_minako25 . tumblr tagged / Minako25_


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER 5**

"Hey Fi," Marshall Lee greeted as he entered the bleak and eerily quiet hospital room. The gingerbread walls were warm, the floor tiles were colored in pleasing pastels and the candy cane beds were soft and inviting. Flowers and get well presents decorated every inch of space, even from those who knew next to nothing of the resident. In spite of all the comfort and cheer abound, the hospital and the scene before the vampire were downright depressing.

Fionna barely acknowledged his arrival, not that he expected as much either. She simply continued staring out the window, hypnotized like she'd been doing since she was assigned to this sterile cell. A gilded cage for a beautiful bird trapped inside the prison of her own soulless shell. The vampire king, he knew a thing or two about soulless shells.

Somberly he drifted to the human's side, unfolding her hands from her lap into his own. Around her small hand a clean bandage tightly wraps the burn she'd received from a "friendly" encounter with Flame Prince. It had almost been a week since the burn was inflicted and no one had bothered to tend to it. There would defiantly be scaring Marshall Lee bared his fang.

"Get the lump out of my life…"

Vividly the words they'd last spoken replayed like a broken record in his brain. Ironic how he found himself doing the exact opposite, as always. But she'd forgive him this time, wouldn't she? Would she still feel that way when she was cured? Would she be so happy that the Ruler of Darkness saved the day and that all transgressions would be forgiven and forgotten?

Restless, empty eyes drifted towards his ebony ones, with no recognition in them. The physical gesture of turning her head to meet him was the only indication he had that she was even aware of her surroundings. Fionna looked so lost and tired now. He knew she hadn't slept much at all, heck he wasn't able to rest much either, even with a long day ahead of him.

"We're um…" he started awkwardly, rubbing his thumb over her knuckles. He'd lie and say the gesture was for her, and not so much him. Not that he thought anyone would catch this visitation right before the dawn, and that was the point. He'd kept his distance from everyone for the most part, Cake being there to smother her sister in the meantime. It gave the vampire king to be alone with his thoughts… even though he'd had days prior to think while trying to open a portal to Ooo.

Despite all that time, his thoughts were still a mess, replaying the countless encounters' they'd shared. The schoolyard teasing, the juvenile pranks, and fights, but also laughter, the fun and adventure they shared. Eventually though, all memories would go back that last conversation… well fight, he'd had with the human. He'd really messed up that time; he knew that, and maybe even their friendship. He was too prideful to admit it, but that scared him a lot and nothing scared the vampire king.

Marshall Lee had discovered a lot of scary things when it came to Fionna, actually. Not the serial-killer-mutant-monster-under-your-bed-zombie-apocalypse kind of scary, that was just fun, but the emotional kind of scary. Emotions that the evil, 1000 year old son of the devil (and Vampire King) didn't have, want or need. Feelings that told him things like his life (undead) without Fionna, would be worst than dying (again).

And maybe prideful arrogance was his problem here.

"… we're going to go find the wish granter and fix you." It was like talking to himself, but Marshall Lee pressed on, "And you're going to stay here in the meantime. No going off to see Ice King, kay?"

Fionna responded with a polite, robotic smile.

"I just wanted to let you know before we left. Not like you'd notice." he laughed grimly. Fear knitted in his brows as his thoughts struggled to burst out all at once.

"I guess… I'm not sure you even understand me right now, or if you'll even remember. Glob Fi… I'm sorry. I know I've been a jerk and stuff, and I didn't mean to hurt you. It's just that… I think I…" he lowered his head to rest on her hands in his, focusing on the words in his brain. "I think I… don't wanna loose our friendship."

Quickly the vampire sat up, releasing her hands and looked around anxiously. Paranoia dripped from his aura, even though they were still alone so early in the dawn. He could have kicked himself in that moment for everything. The way he was acting, and a sappy confession filled with half truths to an enchanted girl, who probably couldn't comprehend.

"So be good," he laughed, uneasily floating backwards. Fionna watched his exit listlessly. "We'll be back with your soul before you know it."

A heavy sigh escaped his pale lips as he crossed the threshold into the hall. The sun's light cut golden streaks across the sky now, it was time to meet up with the others. He only floated an inch before coming eye to eye with another just outside FIonna's room. Marshall Lee physically jumped seeing Marceline, lingering outside the door with her arms folded loosely.

"That was weak," she glanced from the corner of her charcoal eyes.

"What? I have no idea what you're even talking about…" he defended, hastily gliding down the hallway, not in the mood for her joshing. The female vampire was already following, having already patiently waited for his private conversation to wrap up.

"Everyone is ready," she didn't tease, taunt or press him further. There was too much on everyone's plates already, with a dangerous quest ahead and heroic souls at stake. Very businesslike, Marceline began prattling off details, "Peebs got us a boat waiting north of the grasslands. It's got a cabin so we can hide out from the sun in…"

Suddenly Marshall Lee stopped in the middle of the hall.

"What is it?" the vampire queen queried in slight irritancy.

"Marceline, I don't want you coming with us," Marshall Lee revealed. One could tell it wasn't a request, but an order and that didn't sit well with Marceline.

"What the hey?" she froze as he looked back sincerely at her, more sincere than she thought any vampire could manage. A guilty knot twisted in her gut as she predicted his next words.

"I want you to stay here with Fionna, watch over her."

"She's got half the Candy Kingdom watching her already," Marceline argued.

"I know, but… they're all chumps! If something really bad went down, or Fi just decided to go off on her own. Do you really think any of them could stop her?"

"She'd just wander off the Ice Kingdom…"

"Marceline!" he implored, startling the staff and patience's around them.

"Okay," she conceded, drifting away from his outburst. She supposed when you "technically" ask yourself to do something, you were obligated to do it. Besides there were barely a handful of people Marceline thought she would catch herself begging someone for a favor for. It was probably the same for the Vampire King.

A clock on the wall ticked another minute away and Marshall Lee continued down the hallway. He provided no thank you to his female doppelganger, really words seemed so unnecessary.

"Oh before I forget," Marceline hurried next to him, reaching into her back pocket. She quickly shoved a folded up piece of parchment into the male vampire's hands, one he carefully unfolded to reveal a map.

"I went back to find the map that Ice King used to find the island," she readily offered, "but he said he lost it. Didn't buy it, but I found this instead."

The map in hand was certainly nothing special except for scribbles and notes littering its surface. Locations and landmarks not printed on the original map were meticulously plotted in. Other items were written over or blacked out. Most importantly; off to the north east there was a small circle in the middle of nothing with the words "missing island" jotted next to it. The old wizard may have been crazy, but he was thorough. If his research notes were to be believed, than this was where the wish granter would be found.

"Cool," Marshall Lee shoved the map into his own pocket before grabbing their respective umbrella's to ward off the sun's encroaching light.

Due to such an early departure time, only a few citizens of the candy kingdom had gathered bid the travelers bon voyage. When the vampire's finally arrived, there was no more than a handful of staff, including Peppermint Butler and of course the princess herself. Cake and Finn with his green backpack and demon sword at his side had situated themselves on the sandy beach. A huge yawn escaped Finn as he critically studied their sailing vessel from the land. Both feline and human seemed to agree that it was just too early to start the voyage. Jake however, was already aboard wide awake and eagerly sniffing around in exploration. The pair finally arrived at the boat's launch, watching as the round candy man straightens.

Peppermint Butler proudly boasted with flair, "This good ship is the S.S. Lollipop."

"Ugh, now I remember a song," a pained expression crossed the male vampire's face, causing Marceline to laugh condescendingly. A moment later, after the gears in her head turned, she too frowned remembering that same song.

The S.S. Lollipop floated in majestic contrast in the deep blue ocean waters. She was a strange juxtaposition of a paddle boat, steamship, and cruiser; crafted from chocolate bark, stripped peppermint discs and marshmallow fluff furniture. Realistically, Marshall Lee mused, all that sugar should have dissolved in the water, but what was really important was the covered cabin. It was unknown how far or how long it would be to the mystery island, and he preferred to stay out of the sun if he could.

"This journey shall be long and fraught with danger," the bubblegum monarch explained despite everyone being well versed in danger, "this ship should surely deliver you to your destination safely."

"This ship is the best PB!" Jake enthused, his stubby little tail wagging. The yellow canine was perched eagerly on top of the cabin, scanning the vast blue horizon.

"Supplies for two weeks have been stored on the ship for your voyage. Hopefully it will be more than enough and you shall return home successful quickly." The princess concluded, "Gute Reise!"

Her farewell cued the vampire's to drift their separate ways, Marceline towards the rosey princess and Marshall Lee towards the ship. His free hand reached around to adjust his axe guitar as he glided over to the sea faring vessel. His red scarlet eyes glanced back one last time, and immediately found the most disconcerting sight.

Finn and Cake hadn't moved.

The resident hero drew his knees up, shamed at the piercing stares he was receiving. Marshall Lee barely kept level as Jake hopped up beside him, "What are you bozos doing?"

"Nothing," Finn laughed, still not moving to leave the sandy beach.

"Oh yeah, I guess we forgot to mention Finn's afraid of the ocean," Jake informed matter of factually. The vampire's eye twitched with the inclusion of, "Cake's not a fan either."

"And you didn't think this was information I needed to know?" Marshall Lee gaffed. This was the extreme adventurer team? Two scardey cats afraid of a little water and a magical dog with the sensibility of an eight-year-old. There was no need to even mention that the vampire would be hiding in the cabin out of the sun for most of the journey as well. If this heralded to the rest of the voyage, they were all doomed.

"I was kinda hoping Finn had forgotten about his fear?" the dog timidly offered.

"I'd have been better off bringing the butler with us," he grumbled under his breath as he drifted back to the shore. His presence was ominously demonic as he lingered over the form of the boy and cat, the shadow of his umbrella casting darkly overhead. The thalassaphobic pair timidly raised their eyes to the looming and very irritated Marshall Lee.

"We'll be fine. We just gotta work up to it," Finn meekly shrank back.

"We'll be safe on the boat, right?" Cake had shrunken herself down to pocket size in the hero's hand, "This is for Fionna."

Marshall Lee nodded in agreement, losing his guitar from his shoulder. Surprising both of them, he smiled down at them. It would have been reassuring if not for his fangs glistening over his bottom lip and his darkly sinister suggestion, "I know a song that might help you get over your fear…"

Finn rightfully hesitated to ask what that "song" was right before a loud unmusical crash echoed across the beach. One handed the heavy red instrument fell on the human's blonde head, soundly knocking him out. Everyone on the shore winced as Marshall Lee scooped up the boy and cat underarm and dumped them onto the ship.

The helm was quickly taken by Jake, being the only one able to do so at the moment. Those on shore waved and wished them well on their voyage. Curiously Jake called back to Marceline, "Aren't you coming?"

Even underway the vampire could easily join the cruise but she just smiled and lied, "Nah, I got better stuff to do anyway."

There was no need for her to explain herself or that'd she'd been asked to stay behind to watch over the human girl. Her fingers flashed a devil horns sign towards the departing group, just before Marshall disappeared behind the shadow of the cabin. The quest for Fionna's stolen soul was officially under way.

_***BREAK***_

The sea to the north had always been one shrouded in mystery. None of the residents of the candy kingdom ever ventured into this sea because one: they believed nothing lay to the north of their land and two: unspeakably horrible monsters dwelled within the cold waters. For years maps revealed nothing but a desolate blue wasteland that no one had any reason to doubt. More so with Finn's fear of the ocean, the greatest explorer would never venture beyond the safety of the land.

That was until today… when Ooo's hero was shanghaied onto the small, confectionary cruiser by his best friend and a vampire king. A pained groan signaled his return to consciousness as he gingerly rubbed the back of his pounding skull. It didn't escape the young man's notice that being around Marshall Lee caused him a myriad of head injuries.

The first thing Finn's awareness found was the warm, soft presence of Cake curled up next to him. The fur on her body stood straight up, and her blue eyes were dilated and anxious. This lead Finn to his next discovery, that the land was swaying rhythmically which solid earth rarely did. Finally all the pieces crashed into place as he finally realized he was on the candyship, at sea, and handcuffed to the cabin.

"Cram! Cram!" he yanked and struggled against his bonds, sending Cake into a hissing frenzy. Only a foot away rested Marshall Lee unfazed, simply strumming his guitar. The humans continued to panic, his words coming out in jumbles, "This is bad! We gotta turn back! Let me go!"

"Sorry buddy," Jake tried to sooth his brother from his station, "I was afraid you might be like this when you came to. But don't you worry; just remember that you're safe on the boat."

"Safe… okay," he stuttered, but it was clear he wasn't comforted at all.

"There's no turning back now hero," Marshall Lee strummed a D chord, "Just pray we sail straight through to this lost island."

"Never mind the return voyage," Cake wished she hadn't reminder herself.

The boat rocked over a small curving wave, sending Finn into a fit of shallow breaths. Cake found comfort in clawing onto, which happened to be the hero's bare leg. He yelped and kicked out in pain, sending the cat into frenzy. She managed just one lap around the boat before Marshall Lee hissed a stern warning at the both of them. Jake simply burst out into laughter, perfectly at home on the vast ocean blue.

"Seriously buddy, you really need to calm down. Otherwise you're going to miss all the beauty and mystery of this adventure. I mean, just look," he motioned passed the bow. Carefully the trio below peeked out at the horizon beyond, the sky and ocean stretching endlessly ahead.

Blue eyes widened in wonder, fear temporarily forgotten as he stood up to get a better look. Crimson vampire eyes seemed a little less impressed and turned back to the lonely tune being slowly played. A foreboding yet exciting ambience drifted on deck as the adventurers sailed into a forest of strange shapes and lost history.

Buildings of weathered stone, metal and wood rose up from beyond the inky sea, on a scale the human had never witnessed. Finn had seen old relics of man's cities long gone before; sparsely breaking the ocean's surface in the distance and sunken below. Yet the magnitude of this sea of forgotten memories, endlessly surrounding them seemed significantly more important.

Peering down, it could be seen that the city of stone went deep below the ocean. Patches of bottles, plastic objects, and scraps of wood and other remnants of human history dotted the surface. From within the mix of forgotten things, Cake suddenly reached out to scoop up one item in particular. A doll of plastic, with dirt matted blonde hair and blue eyes like that of her sisters.

"It's just human garbage," Marshall Lee scoffed.

"Do you know what this place is?" Finn turned the doll over sadly.

"Yeah… a grave," the response was grim, but sadness only lingered for a second. A flicker of movement caught Finn and Cake's eyes as they focused on the ocean's dancing surface. Silvery light shimmered below, a single shape traveling alongside the ship. Gradually another shape caught their eyes, followed by more before suddenly a shining silver fish sailed alongside the vessel. Soon a few dozen of fish flew by them, diving in and out of the ocean, keeping a steady pace with them.

Finn laughed when one of the fish splashed him, further letting the wonder of the ocean wash away his fear. His older canine brother chuckled to himself, believing now this trip would do wonders for everyone. The fish splashing about created a steady beat to Marshall Lee's strumming, inspiring a slight increase of tempo. Melodious voices joined in, harmonizing around and above the small ship.

Above them in the cavities of window frames and on the tops of roofs, sat mysteriously beautiful creatures that were new to the human and animal's eyes. All were feminine in shape, with sleek beautiful mermaid tails and colorfully feathered arms. They closed their eyes as they sang out loud.

La La Laaa La La

Eh Eh Ehhhh Ehhhh

Do you see? Do you see?

Four sailors lured before me.

"What are they?" Finn asked in wonder.

"Harpies," Marshall Lee sneered, "Just ignore them."

"Ignore them?" Jake scoffed as one dove down from her perch into the sea. "Have you even looked at these gorgeous babes?"

Any of Jake's observation of the captivating creatures went dually ignored by the vampire. Instead he silently but carefully observed them leaving their nests to circle the boat by air and sea. One colors of teal and yellow fluttered onto the bow to introduce herself to the golden dog.

"Hi, I'm glad you came. Tell me, what's your name?" she rhymed sing-song. Charcoal black eyes gazed hungrily into his, but he didn't seem to notice as he smiled back almost hypnotized.

"My name's Jake pretty lady." he puffed, "What's yours, baby?"

Only smiling in reply, she slithered behind him, draping her feathered arms over his shoulders. Another harpy of lavender and blue pushed her way up onto the deck, licking her pouty lips as she eyed Finn. He shyly waved at the seductive creature before him, becoming suspiciously unnerved by the hungry look in her eyes. Cake's tail poofed out too as she began to see the songbirds circling as less than friendly, and more vulture-like.

"You know, maybe we should have dinner first? Get to know each other better?" Jake maneuvered away from the harpy's slithering hands, finally sensing the impending danger. Abruptly she hissed, revealing a row of jagged fangs salivating hungrily. The she-beast moved to lunge at the dog when color drained apple abruptly lobbed into her head. Losing her balance she toppled off the bow into the ocean.

"Told you to ignore them, they crave attention…" Marshall Lee set his guitar down, preparing for the onslaught of harpies about to siege the boat. Still cuffed the cabin, Finn had more difficulty shaking the hissing harpy at his feet. He swiped his demon sword across her path, but she instead cackled remaining just out of reach. She was sadistically happy clawing at the human too, until tan paws flying kicked the harpy off the ship.

"Get off my ship fishbutt!" Cake hollered taking on a single leg stance. No self respecting cat would let the combination of her favorite meals serve her. Even though two beasts were sent back into the sea, five more circled from the air, eager to attack.

A shrill cry resounded from the soaring she-beasts, like a summons to strike. Desperately Finn tried to hack away at the chain keeping him in place, unable to battle while confined. With the sun still out and Jake at the helm, no hero could leave just Cake to fight alone. Marshall Lee twisted his axe around his hand, watching the flying abominations with a toothy smile. Turning deftly he swung down on the thin chain holding the young hero, cleanly severing it. Finn squeaked for a moment in fear of his hand being chopped off, but eventually nodded to the vampire.

"Get to it hero," he gestured beyond the protective shade of the cabin.

Without another word and his demon sword overhead, Finn leapt out onto the deck as the five harpers dive bombed the deck. Feathered talons clawed and scrapped at fur in flesh, howling in frenzied fury. The enchanted feline pulled her fist back, increased its size 3x and let loose onto the first two harpies.

The three others scattered, one coming around to whip her tail into Finn's face. He only stumbled momentarily before taking hold of her fin and twirling her around straight into a nearby building. Finn cackled, "They aren't so tough!"

"Watch it baby!" Cake warned the hero who'd let his guard down in his boasting. Quick reflexes allowed him to sweep around and cleave into the harpies wing. It screamed inhumanly as it faulted pass Finn and belly flopped back into the ocean. Four down and one remaining now, the group quickly checked their surroundings for the last one. Nothing from port, starboard or stern, so they quickly turn to the bow just as the final harpy crashed through the cabin window.

Glass pieces flew about the cabin interior as the harpy clawed onto an unsuspecting Marshall Lee. She propelled their bodies forwards, into the light and straight into Finn. The tangled mess of bodies skidded off the back end of the vessel and straight into the ocean.

"Marshall Lee!" the companion animals cried into the inky darkness, "Finn!"

Cake watched the water in horror, barely registering Jake's paws land on the deck and him order, "Take the wheel!"

Ocean water sprayed as the loyal canine hit the water and swam directly for his phobic brother and the light sensitive demon. Quickly he found them below the hull, Finn steadily sinking while Marshall Lee battled the harpy. The chimera creature had the upper hand in the water, strangling the vampire as she used her powerful tail to drag him down. She'd easily drown the air breather, or at least she planned to… not being aware of his undead state.

There was no need for Jake to intervene on the vampire's behalf, so he quickly swam down towards the sinking human. Finn's eyes were closed as the waters swept him down further, most likely he lost consciousness the minute he hit the ocean. Yellow hands quickly morphed into lassos to catch him.

On the deck, Cake watched the waves on bated breath. How ridiculous it was, this fear of the ocean leaving her helpless on the ship. This disdain was breed into her and her sister; and simply setting sail was a mental accomplishment for her. After what seemed like an eternity, golden yellow fur broke the surface. Cake sighed in relief as two bodies were thrown up onto the deck, followed by Jake climbing back up aboard.

Finn hoarsely coughed the water from his lungs while Marshall Lee crab walked back into the protection of the cabin. Blood trickled down his lip from the bite he'd taken out of the harpy. He was pretty sure now they'd think twice about coming around again if the beating hadn't already done that. Cake and Jake flopped down besides Finn, winded by the exhilarating battle.

The human tipped his head back to grin foolishly at his companion and received an arrogantly pleased smile in return. Raising his dark brow he jested, "Still scared of the ocean?"

"Terrified," Finn smiled, reaching back to pound his fist with the vampires.

"Me too little man." Marshall Lee moved his dripping hair out of his eyes. This was only a few hours into the journey, with many more to go and a world of unknowns beyond.

_*** TO BE CONTINUED ***_

_Author's Notes: Another challenging chapter. I struggled back and forth with ideas on this, and how much Post Apocalyptic detail to go into. Really, I just wanted to get the harpies and beyond that scene so I can create more battles on the high seas and eventually the arrival on the lost island. In the meantime, thanks for reading and keep an eye out for the next chapter soon. _


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER 6**

The day had come and went for the sea fairing adventurers without incident, unless you include Finn yakking over the rail. So in light of sunburn, harpies and vomit the vampire gladly welcomed the peaceful night. It also meant he wouldn't need to cower in the shadow of the cabin any longer. With night blanketing the ocean and ship, the rest of the group had turned in for the night. So Marshall Lee had his turn at the helm, following an old compass and map northeast to the lost island. Navigating the candy ship, the vampire could only describe it as one thing: boring.

Slumping over the wheel, Marshall Lee thought about what he could be doing at home in Aaa instead. He could be raising the dead to jam with or drinking all the red from the apples in Tree Trunk's orchard, the old elephant would be so irate. He almost considered baking pastries with Prince Gumball… well that wasn't true; he'd probably just eat everything and annoy the jelly filling out of Gum-wad instead. Anything was better than staring dumbly out at the lonely ocean.

A soft chuckle escaped him as he turned up towards the millions of stars overhead. He could be soaring in the skies with Fionna at his back, knocking pixies out of the air and smashing magic dust everwhere. His smile fell as he thought about the human girl, and the reason he was out here in the first place. Wasn't saving the day, rescuing the helpless supposed to be her thing? He wrecked the day and she saved it… the natural order of the things.

The vampire's reverie was interrupted by abrupt chainsaw like snores from the deck. Sparing a glance at the three adventurers behind him, both cat and dog were nestled snuggly within Finn's curling form. The awful snoring originated from Jake, startling Cake enough to kick him in her sleep. The human mumbled about someone slippers being on fire before rolling onto his stomach on top of the pets. Yet none woke up. If only Marshall Lee had some shaving cream and a feather, or a permanent marker would make for some laughs too.

"We're making good time at least," he slumped over the helm again. The S.S. Lollipop continued, speeding steadily through the roaring waves. Marshall Lee would have chalked it up to his mad navigation skills if the boat didn't suddenly pitch a bit too roughly over that last crest. He straightened; only to stumble again when the ship rocked harder than when the harpies were assailing them.

Supernatural senses focused, especially centering in on the roaring howling ocean and turbulent winds. Scanning the horizon it wasn't long before the vampire understood what was going on. Marshall Lee kicked the human boy's rear, "Wake up weenies!"

Cake's paws rubbed at her eyes as she squinted through the dark at the already shadowy creature, "Marshall?"

"Look alive people!" returning to the helm, he spun the wheel portside. The vessel turned slightly but was already helplessly sweeping along the current. If Marshall Lee could have taken back his earlier gripe about sailing being boring… well he probably wouldn't. Needless to say, boring was not the word of choice anymore.

Cake's ears perked up as she leapt up to Marshall Lee's side, the wind whipping around in her face, "What's that noise?"

"That is the sound of your untimely demise," The reply was dry. His red sneakers planted far apart as he attempted to turn the ship away from the rushing flow. Soon Jake and Finn gathered, struggling to see what was causing all the commotion. From port to starboard as far as the horizon stretched the ocean rushed into a black abyss. It seemed like the adventurers had reached the proverbial end of the road, about to sail off the edge of the map.

"Are we sailing into a waterfall?" Jake question was rather calm. A wave crashed up and the boat lurched forwards, knocking everyone over. The violent seesawing set Finn off and he started to wail, scrambling over to hold onto the rail. Marshall Lee barely pulled himself up with the wheel before it started to spin out of control, sending him crashing into the edge with the human. The boat threatened to capsize, the raging waterfall sucking them closer and faster towards the edge. Cake's claws screeched across the deck boards, curling up into shreds as she tried to find footing. The only one faring well at all was Jake, who'd found center by stretching to hold onto both sides of the boat.

"I really… REALLY hate the ocean!" Finn screamed into the vampire's acute ears,

"Marshall Lee do something!"

"Like what?"

"Like fly the boat!" the teens shouted above the din.

"What do I look like, Muscle Prince?"

"Can't you turn into a giant bat?" it could only be assumed that if Marceline could do it, so could her male counterpart. The vampire's ruby eyes blinked momentarily in thought before the undead teen hovered above the boat. The human had a point, in his bat form he probably could carry the ship past the waterfall, if he wasn't blown away by the winds first. He'd never let on but the pressure along was making him fight to keep pace above the ship.

"I'm not responsible if I drop you," Marshall Lee's head darkened and shifted into a disproportioned monster head. The rest of his body twisted to soon catch up to the rest of the transformation to become a giant bat. His claws caught the underside of the cabin and he spread his wings. The winds quickly filled the skin and he flapped once for lift. The graceful lift off all were hoping for didn't happen so much. The boat creaked and moaned under the opposing pressures, barely lifting a few feet out of the water.

A powerful gust jostled the vampire and his sail like wings only succeeded in pushing the boat faster towards the drop. Marshall Lee's form shrank as he fell back onto the deck. The passengers surrounded the winded demon, unspoken questions in their eyes.

"New plan: you all get crushed to death by the ocean and I get lost at sea until the sun comes up and burns me to ash."

"That's not a plan!" Finn cried.

"Okay sugar, maybe we just need more lift," Cake hauled the vampire up, "If Jake and I make ourselves into a hang glider, maybe we can glide to safety."

"…and if there's no bottom." Of course he would play devil's advocate.

"Well cross that bridge when we get to it." The feline turned to Jake.

"Sounds like a plan to me." The ever easy going canine agreed.

"Good." She grinned in satisfaction before doling out orders, "I'll take the rear, Jake take the middle and Marshall Lee you should steer. Finn…"

Blue eyes shined over with fearful anticipation, leaving Cake at a loss for words. Thankfully Jake stepped forwards, drawing both paws up in a surrendering like gesture as he instructed Finn the best way he could, "Finn buddy… just close your eyes."

The human could only nod as he scrambled his way into the darkness of the cabin and did exactly as he was told. Teetering waves violently shake the S.S. Lollipop again as animals and vampire all changed their forms to give the ship the best chance of survival into the unknown. The roar of the oceans draining into the oblivion and the howling winds are deafening even to supernatural ears.

Wind pressure instantly grabs hold of the two magical pets as they allow their shapes to thin and flow into bright yellow and tan furry hang gliders. The mega vampire bat braces himself as the boat shifts and creaks as it is picked up slightly out of the water. The combined support of all the supernatural creatures onboard seems to make the difference as the ship sails straight off the peak of the falls.

The true immensity of the ocean waterfall quickly comes into view. Water drops miles down and endlessly across what could be described as an unnatural fault line. Like a chunk of the world was just bitten away leaving this strange phenomenon of spilling blue ocean. Mist sprays into thick fog, making it almost impossible to see what's beyond the sky in front of the ships nose. It was any wonder how the Ice King of all Ooo residents managed to come out of this adventure alive. Despite everything, Jake let out a jubilant cry, "Yahooooo!"

"Yeaaaaaaa hawwwwww!" overwhelmed laughter echoes from Cake next.

"You gotta see this Finn!"

"No, I'm good." Terror induced naseau creeps up on the human.

"Yeaaaaa baby!" Marshall Lee playfully challenges, "Seriously Fionna would have opened her eyes! She would standing on the bow, arms out, screaming her lungs out. Are you going to be outdone by a girl!"

Somehow, a challenge and flying in the air over the great mysterious ocean awoke the adventurer back in the boy. He gradually lifted his head up and stared deftly into the taunting eyes of the vampire king. Bracing his hands on his knees he stood tall and turned towards the nose of the craft. Climbing around and up the cabin, Finn soon found himself planted heroically on the tip of the bow. The wind in his face, gliding down into the misty deaths made him want to cry out that he was king… and so he did.

"I'm King-a-the-world!"

A snort came from bat like nostrils as they sailed on through the skies. The craft drew away from the waterfall, pass the misty fog and eventually revealed another tier of ocean. It would only be a minute or so before they made a clear landing and were able to safely continue their journey. Mere meters away from the crystal blue water, Finn clamored back onto the relatively stable deck. The boat hop skipped and jumped as it reconnected with the ocean again. The landing wasn't perfect, but one that you could walk away from and that was the important factor.

Red sneakers and paws landed gracefully back on the ship, the vampire king wearing a satisfied smirk. His skinny arms popped and creaked as he stretched out limbs that had once been giant grey wings. Any one of them could have made a carefree comment about the journey thus far, but instead Marshall Lee's eyes widened in shock.

The candy boat burst at the core, torn by a column of ocean and splintering confectionary shrapnel in all directions. Behind the column of seawater followed red and sea green tentacles of thorns and teeth. No less than six appendages speared through the travelers, sending bodies helplessly crashing into the waves. Jakes voice yelled inaudibly in desperation, waves thrashing him wildly like a rag doll. Screams from the struggling cat pierced the ruckus as Cake tried to catch a glimpse of anyone from the torn deck piece she now floated on.

The sea monster's endless tentacles gyrated and slithered wildly in the air, spraying water down like rain. Scaled limbs slapped down near Marshall Lee, creating such force that the waves simply washed the vampire further away. His pale tired body struggled to stay above the surface as he was pushed further away from the others. Whatever the creature was, it was starting to appear too huge to even make a treat out of the group of four.

It was oddly comforting to know his end wouldn't be from being eaten alive. Odder still was his next thought, a memory of a younger him on the streets of a town that didn't exist anymore. His vision blackened suddenly, holding onto that memory.

_***BREAK***_

Hours still remained until dawn brightened the Candy Kingdom. Of course that meant that most of its residents were tucked safely away in their beds. Besides some night duty guards and staff, the only creature stirring was naturally Marceline. Normally if she was in the heart of the kingdom this early in the day, she was bound to be up to no good. Today however she was quietly engrossed in a book in the princess's study.

It had been a hectic day for the vampire, seeing as she'd been tirelessly about for two nights and a day. She should have been exhausted after fights, strange revelations and human-sitting duty but instead was too tired to rest. So she dug up an old human book to after she'd decided Fionna wasn't going to do anything but be a lump and Princess Bubblegum was going to be too stuck up to be any entertainment.

The Princess had busied herself with research and study into alternate dimensions in the meantime. Briefly the issue of returning Fionna, Cake and Marshall Lee to their world Aaa had come up. It seemed only natural for the scientific minded girl to start working on a solution, which somehow surprised the male vampire. The princess couldn't understand his doubt at her ability to contribute with science. Certainly if she were similar to this Gumball she'd heard mention of, than he too would be solving things with science. She concluded that Marshall Lee was being sexist in his views of her, never suspecting that her doppelganger was more apt to bake than hypothesis.

After a long day of theories and research notes, Bubblegum had no problem curling up in her royal chambers and immediately finding sleep. Her lab coat lay haphazardly at the foot of her bed alongside her nightgown she hadn't bothered to change into. Unladylike drool pooled at her pillow as she snored soundly, seemingly dead to the world.

Dead as she may have seen though, a soft shuffle quickly brought her lavender eyes open. The darkness of the room took some adjusting as she sat up right and slowly scanned the room. The noise that had awoke her had stopped just as soon as she became aware of it. Still the princess was reluctant to ignore the feeling of apprehension in her gut. Years of being a target had given her a sense, if not all the princesses a sixth sense to danger.

Gently her foot swept the cool moon bathed floor. She paced over to the balcony to watchfully scan the perimeter of her castle. Nothing seemed particularly out of place as she turned back to notice for the first time her chamber door was ajar. Her heart skipped for a moment before she frowned suspiciously, "Marceline."

Bubblegum folded her arms as she crossed the room with a watchful eye. She saw no sign of the vampire girl, though she didn't suspect she would. All she could really do was steel herself for the inevitable scare or trick the vampire was about to play on her. Really, could she not have more tact or a sense of better timing than tonight to be so childish the princess wondered?

However, the immortal teen did not creep forth from any shadow. The princess couldn't decide if she was bidding her time or if she herself was just being paranoid. Bubblegum sighed, turning back towards her bed and finding something even more surprising in her path. Despite herself she screeched.

Standing just up to her chin, in the same hospital clothing she was provided earlier stood Fionna the human. Hollow blue eyes stared coldly up at the warm candy princess, causing her to step back.

"Fionna?"

She didn't suspect the blonde to respond, so she was again taken aback when she spoke, "It's your fault."

"What?" she blurted before she could plan her words, "What did I do?"

"Ice King."

Confused eyes searched the previously catatonic human, "What about the Ice King. I've done nothing to him."

"You took him away from me," Fionna stepped closer, hauntingly, "I saw. He tried to hide it, but I saw…"

Bare feet took another step forward, compelling Bubblegum to take another step back. She couldn't' fathom what this child was even talking about, so utterly possessed.

"Your picture, your presence… everywhere!"

"Fionna you're not well," pink arms held the younger girls shoulders, her blue eyes welling up in twisted sorrow. Though her pain looked frightfully real, but there was no soul behind them; only warped emotions artificially driving the human forward.

Tormenting her.

Nothing could prepare Princess Bubblegum for Fionna's next strike, throwing her arms aside before shoving her against the chamber wall. Bubblegum pink hair spilled messily around her face as she jolted painfully against the smaller girl's strength. Certainly years of adventure and danger had built the girl up similarly to Finn, and that made her a force to be reckoned with. The princess was no pushover herself but found herself morally conflicted about fighting with a mentally disturbed girl so victimized as her. Fortunately for Bubblegum, Marceline had no qualms.

The keen vampire must have heard the altercation from the study well into the beginnings. She made quick work of kicking open the princesses' chamber door and elbowing her way between the candy princess and human. She struck the girls chin harshly, sending her reeling back but not disabling her vengeful spirit in the least.

Fionna's buckteeth snarled and hands clawed out as she rushed the vampire queen in retaliation. Focused determination sparked in Marceline's red eyes as she calculated her defense. In a swift palm strike she struck the human again, square and effectively in the head. Instantly Fionna was sprawled unconscious on the floor. Princess and vampire cautiously approached her prone form, frowning grimly.

"I think we have a problem here," Marceline hissed.

_***BREAK***_

Sea water, in large enough douses was quit the sickening, vomit inducing flavor. This was what Finn thought as he coughed and wheezed yet another lung full of brine filled ocean. He also thought that somehow he would find a way to drain all the wretched oceans away, so that he may never have to suffer them again. However evil the oceans of Ooo were though, somehow the ocean fearing hero endured and fate found him on land.

Though his muscles were aching Finn found strength to pull himself along the sandy beaches. There were no sign of his comrades or any civilization as he crawled along the grey sands. His eyes squinted as he searched the gradually lightening horizon. Nothing but barren rocks and earth lay before him as far as the eye could see. His head fell down in tired defeat as he struggled to catch his breath.

"Finn!" The sudden call caused him to look up again.

His brow furrowed in confusion now, his eyes focusing on sandstone colored block just a few meters away.

"Finn!" a voice called again, beckoning to stand and move forwards. Finn followed the tan path to the crest of a hill and nearly fell onto his rear when he saw what was over it.

The desolate landscape gradually and yet suddenly began to change and bleed into a new vista. The square stones he originally followed turned into smooth sidewalks flanking a dark asphalt road down the center. Grass, flowers, plants and trees that he should have noticed much sooner preceded buildings that were variations of Marceline's own home. Human homes he immediately provided. His heart muscle ached.

"Finn!" the voice, feminine and familiar resounded from behind. Finn turned immediately to find instead of the ocean, that the houses and yards continued and a young girl about his age hurrying up to him. She seemed a stranger but oddly familiar in her red blouse and long orange flowered skirt. For a moment the teen surmised her to be an angel, but disregarded that thought since she wasn't like angels he'd met before.

Her eyes shinned as she smiled at him, her rich auburn red hair in a sloppy bun except for two strands that framed her cheeks. She spoke again and realization dawned on Finn.

"We better hurry silly or we'll be late."

"Flame Princess?"

"Princess again?" she scoffed as she scooped up his peach hand with her human hand to guide him down the street, "you're going to give me an ego… bigger than yours."

"What in globs name is going on?" Helpless the hero let her guide him in this strange, surreal reality.

_*** TO BE CONTINUED ***_

_Authors Note: And that is chapter 6! I feel a lot better about this chapter than I did 5. I keep going back and editing chapter 5 too. Little things here and there. -_-; But hopefully I haven't lost too many readers except that one guy. Please comment if you would, I appreciate the reviews and feedback. Otherwise I'll see you guys again in Chapter 7…. Where we'll find out how Finn washed up onto this strangely human island? Where the fuzzy Jake, Cake and Marshall Lee ended up. And what PB and Marcy will do with the threat of a Ice King obsessed Fionna.  
Oh and if anyone notices… I threw up a quickie drawing for a KINDA cover for the story. Just something to mix it up since I found out I could change story covers. : D_


	7. Chapter 7

_Author's Notes: So this is probably where I should insert some heartfelt excuse for taking so long to update this story. But really, it would be just an excuse and truthfully I just couldn't' find the time to write. So instead lets just get on with Chapter 7... and see where our adventurers are now. Also... some reviews and feedback would be nice._

**CHAPTER 7**

Over 24 hours had passed for since the Lollipop had set sail into unknown, hostile waters. In the Candy Kingdom, unaware of ocean adventures transpiring, life went on as normal. Well, certainly as normal as it could when the souvenir princess herself had been attacked at night. A call to imprison the psychotically warped human child was immediately put in place but the royal guard. It was decided that this human from another world was a danger to their princess, the people and even to herself.

Princess Bubblegum was compelled to agree.

So it was with surprising compassion, or just a bored whim, that Marceline of all people volunteered to take Fionna under her wing. The royal sentry and princess were aghast as such a reckless notion, since the vampire lacked the resources to contain such a volatile menace. It would be only a matter of time that the human would escape to wreck havoc on the Candy Kingdom again, or even return to the Ice King's side. Marceline could have scoffed at their forgetfulness that this was a human enchanted, not a criminal mastermind. Boastfully Marceline presented her pale claws across her frame to present herself and swaggered, "I have all the right resources right here."

She was the Vampire Queen after all, not some chocolate covered banana sentry chump. She didn't fear babysitting some frail human, or fret over the senile Ice King and especially didn't concern herself with the justice of Candy Kingdom. So it was with Bobbibel's last plea to sanity that Marceline packed up the human and in the early hour before sunrise carted her off to her cave. Besides, Vampire Queen's did as they pleased, when they pleased irregardless of any and everyone.

No one, especially not the princess needed to know that she'd made a promise to her alternate self.

Still, promise or not promise, it wouldn't stop the 1000 year old teen from turning Fionna into her toy. This is how the pair found themselves in Marceline's bedroom in the early hours before noon. Fionna sitting patiently on the soft red silk sheets of the bed while Marceline rummaged violently through her closet. Shoes, outfits, papers, book and other miscellaneous objects flew out onto the floor while she scoured the closet space.

Fionna's demeanor had calmed significantly too as she watched the vampire while holding Schwabl, the zombie poodle in her lap. Maybe it was the vampire's familiar setting, the distance from the pink princess, or the fact that she couldn't see the Ice Kingdom from the cavern that calmed her, Marceline couldn't be sure. Nor did she really mind, since so far Fionna had made no escape attempt and never tried to attack her. Not that she could.

Marceline straightened from her search, holding a skull adorned green tank top and a fishnet top in her hands. She raised the items towards to seated human with a mischievous grin on her face. "As long as I'm stuck babysitting you, we are TOTES going to improve your look. I know ML will be so impressed with your new style when they get back… because we'll I'd be impressed. I was thinking ink too," she waited for the reaction she knew she wouldn't receive and chuckled, "I'm just messing with you."

"Arm's high as the sky," she instructed, gently she maneuvered Fionna's arms up to replace the hospital gown with more suitable fashion. Okay so using the lucid human as her living doll was utterly sick, perverted and depraved, but when was Marceline ever going to get this opportunity again. It was just dress up anyway… and maybe some makeup and maybe a solo jam session with her captive audience. It was all copacetic for the vampire anyway.

_***BREAK***_

Across the ocean another vampire had less frivolous matters on his mind. Matters like: figuring out where he was now, where his comrades had drifted off to and how they were going to continue their quest. Much like Finn, Marshall Lee washed up onto land some time after their ship had been obliterated into confectionary debris. Fortunately the vampire found himself not stranded alone, but with the human's familiar Jake. It was also fortunate that the dog could transform himself into a makeshift protective hood from harsh rays of the sun, much like Cake had done previously. The vampire would survive to see another night.

Ragged and exhausted, the unlikely team still pressed on in search of their friends. Their pace was slow and graceless across the colorless grey earth, as Marshall Lee just couldn't find the strength to fly. The sand recorded his wobbling footsteps with his treasured axe guitar, drawing a comical tail behind him. Every minute or so Jake would call out for Finn or Cake, in hopes they would hear his beckoning cry. The sound of his gruff voice barely passed beyond his muzzle, the barren land providing no echo to resonate off of.

Marshall Lee paused when they reached the peak of a desert dune to fish out his map from his soaked shirt. Fishing was definitely a good analogy as he withdrew the sopping wet parchment that now bleed and hung limply in his hands. He hadn't really examined the map after Marceline had given it to him, so supposed they were no better off with or without it. The vampire wasn't much of a navigator anyway.

Crumpling up what remained of the map, he let it uselessly fall from his hands down the grey dune. It rolled downward for just a moment before the sands swallowed it up out of sight. Marshall Lee and Jake blinked simultaneously. Even wet and balled up the paper map couldn't have had enough weight to sink into the side of the hill. Jake stretched further out to observe while Marshall Lee levitated out flat to see where the discarded trash had disappeared.

"There's something under here." Yellow paws pointed to a single white fluted column, mostly hidden underneath the sand. While it was an interesting find, it really meant one important thing to the pair: shelter and rest. Eagerly Marshall Lee swooped down through the trickling sand into hidden cavern.

They touched down after descending some 50 feet down onto a cracked a potholed white base. The landing was less than graceful, Marshall's sneakers finding little traction on the grains of sand. Dog and vampire moaned as they lay flat on their backs, between the rows of ancient columns encompassing a massive stone temple. Deciding this was a good as spot as any to rest, Marshall spread himself out for a short recharge while Jake, curious as a pup explored.

Jake scooped up the discarded map, guided the sparse rays of light that were able to penetrate the earth above. The building was in serious disrepair to the north, the mountain of sand and dirt filing in the cavities the only thing still shouldering it. He quickly sniffed his way to the shadowy entrance and stared in awe of the interior.

"Holy Mars!"

Inside, specs of daylight shimmered down on a (to Jake at least) large-as-life statue of the King of Mars, Abraham Lincoln. The monument's head was severely cracked, detail was worn away and the legs were all but broken off, but it was still recognizable. Jake had never known that a shrine to the King of Mars even existed, deducing immediately it must be over a thousand years old. Jake's sharp eyes focused beyond the statue, concentrating on the faded writings on the stone wall that held up surprisingly well over the centuries.

"…As in the hearts… For whom he saved… Forever…" was what he could decipher before calling out enthusiastically, "Not sure I get it, but this is algerbraic! Marshall Lee come see!"

Pointed ears twitched slightly outside the temple entrance, but the vampire made no move to come see. The dog wasn't taking no for an answer as he bound back out of the temple and tugged him along. Marshall Lee relented to the caffeinated squirrel like energy of his companion and begrudgingly followed, careful to avoid any slivers of sunlight.

Despite the flourish Jake used to present the statue to the vampire, Marshall Lee's response was comically jaded. He'd seen the statue, and immediately turned back around to resume his nap. Jake deflated, "But it's the King of Mars!"

"Seen it."

"Oh… well I guess I forgot you were 1000 years old too. You and Marcy have probably seen it all."

Marshall Lee simply shrugged, "You can find Lincoln on a penny anywhere."

"A what?" he was unfamiliar with the long outdated currency. He began to toy with the map when he realized Marshall Lee wasn't going to be much of a conversationalist. The saggy map tore as he unraveled the ball, noticing writing on the backside that he wasn't sure anyone had ever looked at. The writing was playfully curvy and feminine is red ink with a heart and signature at the end reading, "Luv Marceline."

"Hey, there's a note from Marcy on this," Jake studied trailing after the vampire, "I'm just the guy finding all sorts of secret messages today."

"Yeah? What's it say?" Marshall Lee entwined his fingers to support his head, leisurely floating on his back. The brief break from the daylight seemed to bright the spring back in his preverbal step.

"Ummm," he twisted the slowly disinigrating left and right as if that would make it easier to read. Finally he settled on twisting his head upside down with the paper as he moved under a beam of sunlight, "Something he said… desolate and grey isle… except a dome temple…"

"Give me that," Marshall Lee snatched the map away, tearing it further. He scrutinized the bleeding text, resisting an urge to just suck the red right off the page. He tried to mash the torn paper back together as he studied the words.

"She must have gotten more info from the fat old guy. She could have just said something instead of writing a stupid love note." He idly scratched his head, "A desolate grey island and a single dome shaped temple that… that is grey as the landscape. Cram."

"Everything here is grey. You don't suppose we're in the right place?"

"We're in the middle of nowhere, on a deserted island except for the Lincoln Memorial," Marshall Lee thought out loud, "Than that could make this… but what the hey is a domed shaped?"

"Marshall?" Jake questioned his ramblings only for the vampire to straighten and motion for Jake to hop onto his back, "I got an idea where we are, so I think we better keep sightseeing dog."

Fluidly Jake twisted and shifted over the pale teen's body to create a shield from the sun. They quickly took flight again under vampire power, through the slowly cascading sands and back into the empty desert beyond. Both had closed their eyes under the spilling grains, only to open them again to a view more jarring than either had anticipated.

Marshall Lee immediately touched down again, his sneakers landing on soft dewing grass instead of sand. Trees, blue skies, animals, homes and every aspect of life lay before them. It was a similar switch in landscape that Finn was experiencing elsewhere, but neither of them knew that at the time. Marshall Lee was surprisingly speechless at the change.

Replacing the white desert was a thriving civilization that sort of put a monkey wrench in his earlier navigation plans. Besides plans gone awry the 1000 year old couldn't help but notice that this "town" was nothing like any place in the land of Ooo. Not that he had the greatest experience with the geography of this dimension, but his memories cried out that this was not only out of place physically, but also temporally. This was the world before the Mushroom War, a place still called Earth.

"Is this a mirage or case of sun stroke?" Jake finally called out the vivid hallucination. He waited patiently for the stunned teen to respond for a moment before deciding it best to focus on the adventure at hand, "So, sightseeing?"

Marshall numbly nodded, allowing himself to drift forwards down the suburban street. The sand buried Lincoln Memorial had long since evaporated into the suburban mirage. Dark demon eyes lingered on the sights around them and not on the path ahead. His steps faltered as he pushed forward of the grass onto perfectly smooth sidewalks.

Houses intact, yards landscaped, streets maintained, cars without rust and decay. A phone poll ahead covered in signs of local events and a beloved family pet gone missing. Fluorescent flyers in every car window advertise someone's relentless handiwork to annoy everyone on the block. The din of a TV up too loud fills his keen ears and the shadow of movement inside one of the homes drew his focus, so Jake's abrupt warning went unheard.

"Watch it!" a child's voice heeded just before a young human sailed by on his skateboard. Marshall Lee barely stumbled out of the way, watching the boy skate with a smarmy look in his freckled face.

"Watch it yourself!" Jake waved his yellow fist like a disgruntled old man. The rebel in Marshall Lee smirked to himself, but faded as Jake inquired, "Hey, was that kid another human?"

He never got his answer as more sounds of life drew their attention. A dog barked from across the street being led by a human on a leash. A man in a suit got out fished around in his mailbox for mail. A motherly woman called out to her child to come inside. Neighbors chatted idly at the end of a driveway, behaving as if nothing strange and unusual was going on. A sign hanging from a post in one of the lawns reading for sale accompanying another sign enticing, "If you lived here, you'd be home now."

To the dog and vampire, it was all strange and unusual. Marshall Lee a likened it to entering the Twilight Zone, which in itself was strange since this illusion, was pretty ordinary… for 1000 years ago.

"We have just entered the Twilight Zone."

"Never been," Marshall Lee rolls his eyes at Jake's response, knowing the reference was completely missed and outdated before he spoke it.

They duo gingerly continued another block or so up the street, spotting another pair of fleshy, ordinary humans sitting in the perfectly cut grass of a white painted house. Marshall Lee chooses to ignore them, but Jake's remained on the pair of young teens, especially the young man with unruly blonde hair. The young girl sitting next to him holds his hand loosely in her own and a familiar white hat in her lap. Delayed recognition catches up to the hound as he calls out, "Finn!"

The familiar human teen shoots up, smiling at the familiar sight of the vampire and his canine brother. He reaches down to help the young auburn haired woman up to meet the pair at the edge of the lawn.

"You're okay dude!" Jake rejoices, almost leaping away from his position of sun shield to the vampire. The vampire studies both humans critically, even though the look, sound and smell like living things and not mirages. He's even more wary of the completely unfamiliar girl with fingers entwined with the heroes. Jake as always takes each new development in stride, taking each moment as it comes to him.

"Yeah, I wandered into this town a little awhile ago. It's strange…but math."

Finn shrugs meekly.

"This town doesn't belong here," Marshall Lee's commentary is duly ignored by the dog over his head as he speaks freely, "Who's your girlfriend Finn?"

Red creeps up onto the boy's cheeks and a creasing frown mare the mystery girl's once soft features, "His girlfriend."

Her statement is plain and straightforward with one hand on her hip. If her words and voice weren't enough, than her fiery personality is definitely the dead giveaway. Jake's mouth draws into an "O" before he smiles warmly, "Flame Princess! How'd you get here?"

A solid smack resounds off Jake's forehead as Marshall Lee smacks him, perhaps intending to hit his own head, but probably not.

"She's not here nimrods! This whole town is just a messed up mind gunk!" he exasperates at the – to him – young and naïve brothers. This human world couldn't exist, not anymore, and they were both too gullible to see otherwise.

His following argument was immediately made invalid by said illusion, as her bronzed petite hand struck him loudly across the cheek meat. The slap was enough to turn Marshall Lee's head, causing Jake to also fell from his roost on the man's head. Instinctive hisses followed as Marshall Lee attempted to protect himself from the sun's vicious kisses. The burning flesh and smoking hair never occurred.

"What is wrong with you, you emo freak?" Flame Princess huffed.

"Dude! You're not on fire!" Finn helped Marshall Lee straighten himself.

"I tend to like it that way," His pale grey hand gingerly tested the sunlight. The solar light did not burn or sear away at him as normally it did. Something about this island, and this illusion was preventing the normal vampire ailments from affecting him. The Vampire King silently reasoned that maybe it was actually night outside or they were really inside of a building somewhere. This reasoning from the same person who'd hopped dimensions just a day or so earlier.

"This island is magic!" Finn "oooed" as his eyes became saucers.

"All of Ooo is magic Finn," Jake stood at his brother's side.

"Ugh, you are not a vampire Marshall Lee. Finn stop encouraging him," Flame Princess scoffed, rolling her chocolate brown eyes in disgust.

"Really?" A dark eyebrow raised playfully, Marshall Lee's crimson eyes burned red and his sharp fangs bared themselves in a demonic hiss. Flame Princess simply ignored the display.

"I don't get why Fi puts up with you."

"Wait, Fionna?" His form quickly shrank back, all giving their rapt attention to the human girl. She eyed the trio warily as they leaned in closer, causing her to step back.

"Yes Fionna. She's supposed to meet us at the show. We should probably get going."

"Wait, what show?" Finn asked as Flame Princess showily gestured towards a fluorescent poster on a nearby phone pole. Jake quickly pulled the poster down and read out loud, "Don't miss the Great Gene Majique… blah blah Kalander park… blah blah magic show."

Looking around, the flyers were littered everywhere, beckoning someone to discover one. It was almost too obvious and too easy for the more cynical of the group's likings. And Marshall Lee normally claimed to like things easy. Flame Princess eagerly motioned everyone to follow her while snagging Finn's hand, "We're going to be late."

With no other choice they followed her down the road, past the homes and into a busier section of town. They passed by a grand library with a large bronze statue of a turtle in the courtyard. Jake snickered something about "Turtle Princess" as the courtyard lead them to a park with a stage setup and a large gathering of people.

Their eyes scanned the mass of human's for the one that Flame Princess claimed was waiting for them. The amount of human's to scan over was daunting, almost agoraphobic to sift through. Jake sniffed along the ground whining, "They all kinda smell the same."

"There she is," Flame Princess helpfully pointed to a lone blonde girl leaning under a tree. Her blue eyes drew up to the search party, a goofy grin crossing her lips. Her appearance was different from her normal look yet again, but clearly it was still Fionna. Her hair was now done up into two twisted loops that emulated rabbit ears and fell down into long pigtails. Her clothing was a slightly grungy with an oversized band shirt over a brightly colored tank, chunky boots and a plaid skirt.

Her presence was so real that it was as if she'd been transported from the safety of the candy kingdom right to this mysterious magic island in the middle of nowhere.

"She's just another magical illusion," Marshall Lee minded the other boys as she happily joined them. This Fionna behaved much more like the Fionna the land of Aaa was familiar with: alive and vibrant.

"What kept you?" She asked cheerily before wrapping her arms playfully around Marshall Lee's shoulder's and planting a swift kiss on his mouth. Once again the vampire was rendered speechless as he felt himself turn red in his lifeless cheeks. Finn just let his jaw fall open at the display. Jake unfortunately had no trouble finding his voice, "That illusion just kissed you man!"

Really, what could he say to that?

Elsewhere, Marceline had discovered she'd somehow completely misplaced her human.

_*** TO BE CONTINUED ***_

_Next time: The amazing man of miracles himself… the magnificent Majique Gene !_


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER 8**

The stage is set, the crowds eagerly gathered and the show about to begin.

Yet despite the high energy and excitement, the adventurers couldn't help but feel they'd dropped right into the middle of the fifth dimension. Misplaced in a world unknown to man, vampire and even dog; a world of lost dreams and twisted imagination. This island of lost rhyme or reason where Marshall Lee, Finn and Jake sat anxiously on the foldout chairs amidst the large crowd of humans.

Flame Princess, or at least her human alternative smiled widely in anticipation of the show, hand in hand with Finn. Not that the hero minded. He'd longed for the days when he could touch his princess, without fear of pain or burns. When the tears and aches they shared wouldn't be of suffering, but of happiness. Her presence here nearly eclipsed the fact that this island was full of humans… his kind. The vampire had quickly dashed his dreams, calling out the "glamour" that was cast upon their eyes and hearts. Humans were gone, and that was that.

Finn released a heavy sigh, wishing so much in his heart gut that Marshall Lee was wrong, and that they really had found a lost city of humans. His deep blue eyes stared hopefully at his lady friend, logic ruling over his dreams. No, Flame Princess… the real one was still on the mainland, in her home they built together by the grassy cliffs. She was still an elemental of fire and most likely unaware of the adventure her hero was currently on. Human FP noticed the fixated stare he was giving her so she playfully winked at him just to catch him off guard. It worked, and Finn blushed and quickly turned his attention to Marshall Lee and Fionna.

The too cool bad boy was stiff and rigid in the uncomfortable metal chair, and not because of the seat. Fionna, or evil illusion Fionna hand her arm wrapped lovingly around his, and her head resting on his shoulder. She was clingy, almost annoyingly so, but Marshall didn't have the undead heart to push her away. This was odd… because his brain muscle kept warning him that this was all an elaborate trap, for some purpose that he couldn't surmise. Why go to all the trouble to stale them on their quest to find the wish granter and his mysterious lost island.

Marshall Lee was beginning to suspect they were already there.

"Man, you have it bad," Finn leaned over Jake, who was seated in between Marshall Lee and himself.

"Definitely bad," Jake concurred with a wry grin.

"What? Fionna?" Marshall Lee stammered. He attempted to squirm out of the girl's hold, but like the real Fionna, she had the strength of an ox and a vice like grip, "No way."

"Bullgunk," Jake challenged.

"If this place isn't real and we're just seeing things… things that we want to see? What are heart guts wish for," Finn noted the town of thriving humans, the world before the Mushroom War according to Marshall Lee, Flame Princess not being made of fire, the sun not burning the vampire to a crisp, and Fionna back to a semblance of her normal self. The whole island was brimming with wants and desires that they couldn't have, even the ones that were secret to most.

"Just admit it that you want her to be your girl," Jake's Cheshire grin stretched beyond his eyeballs. The gears in his head visibly turned a mile a second for his defense, "But she's like… 1000 years younger than me! She's like a little sister for globs sake!"

Neither Finn, Jake nor even Flame Princess looked impressed with his rebuttal.

"Then what about you dog?"

Momentary surprise alighted Jake's features before he reached a paw under his seat to reveal a cardboard weight coupon. He allowed the pair to read its identity, a lifetime free food membership to Taco Loco: home of the any-and-everything burrito.

"Food?"

"Food," both brothers answered.

"I do love food more than people."

"It's true." Finn nodded.

All further discussion was put on hold as the audience around them suddenly burst into applause and smoke and lights filled the park stage. The gable roofed platform certainly exemplified a feeling of imagination and surrealism with its brightly painted boarders and M.C. Esher inspired murals. Everyone but Marshall Lee sat at attention for the start of the show; the vampire just slouched further in his seat. That move did lend to Fionna finally letting him go.

Finn and Jake cheered and applauded as a disembodied voice boomed overhead, "Welcome one and all! ladies and gentlemen if you would kindly continue your applause for the man you've all been waiting for; the mystical miracle man himself: the Magnificent Majique Gene!"

The people stood as smoke billowed over the stage, grand fanfare music blaring; and Jake and Finn couldn't help but follow along. Sparklers flared and popped on the stage and in a sudden poof the smoke cleared and spotlights focused on a single man. He's a quirky looking man, plump and pink with pointed ears, his dark hair in a high ponytail and a tuff of chin whiskers. Unlike the crowd of human's abound on this island, this creature looks like he belongs to the normal gallery of Ooo (or Aaa) residents. He wears a flashy purple robe that lends to the illusion that he's floating inches about the planked stage.

Marshall Lee swiftly examines the stage, unable to detect any strings or stools or any false trickery to make it appear that the pink magician is faking it. Nothing gives this magicians techniques away, in fact many of the effects and lights seem to be produced from nothing at all. The only other prop on stage is a pedestal with a worn green/grey pot displayed on it. No, Marshall Lee's vampire eyes narrow, it's an Arabian styled oil lamp he decides and could kick himself for his naïveté. The Magnificent Majique Gene is a Magic Genie. Ice King's "wish granter", Fionna's ordeal, the sudden 21st century civilization popping up, and everything else; it seemed to fall into place. The Ice King had released a genie of cosmic proportions, and left him to his own devices. Suddenly Marshall Lee became much more interested in the show… and wished he knew something more about genies other than the name and wish granting.

With showy pizzazz the magician Gene throws off his robe to reveal rather ordinary but well made pin stripped suit and tie. He struts along the stage to begin his engagement of the audience.

"Thank you. You've come out tonight," he fans out a deck of simple playing cards, shows it briefly to the audience before chucking the cards behind his head. The white paper shimmers and transforms into fluttering origami swans scattering off stage, "… to see some mind blowing magic tricks."

The audience chortles and lightly claps.

"Some fancy hocus pocus," a flick of his wrist and a bouquet of flowers appear from in his hand. He tosses that towards the audience and it breaks up into sprinkling bits of gold wrapped candies. Children at the front eagerly clamor to catch a piece of the falling treats, "Child's play."

Finn and Jake's laugh and bounce excitedly in their seats.

"Crafty sleight of hand," he continues, his hands suddenly separating from his jacket sleeves to wave about and amaze the audience. Drawing his arms back in line with his disembodied hands the mystically reattach. The audience cheers and the boy's eyes become wide as saucers. Marshall Lee critically curses under his breath at the same time Gene booms out.

"BULLGUNK!"

"What I present to you tonight is not mere illusion or trick… no tricks and magic are stupid. Tonight I will astound you with Glob given miracles!"

Emtinced by the promise of a performance most spectacular, Finn gleefully looks from his brother, to his girlfriend to Marshall Lee. The biggest smile on his face ever, white the vampire wears the biggest frown, his fangs peeking out from his lips.

"What's wrong bro?" Finn's smile faltering.

"That's Ice King's wish granter. We need to move."

"Aw, but the show," Finn, Jake and Flame Princess pout.

"We need to move now," he repeats more firmly with an added demon hiss. Reluctantly the other stand to follow his lead as he tip toes… well floats lowly behind the mass of spectators. Fionna's eyes fill with hurt confusion, wondering why he's making a sudden departure and automatically follows. The mismatched gang barely gets beyond that last seat, apologizing and excusing themselves as they work their way out of the audience when the magician's voice draws them in.

"Is there a child in the audience? Ten, Eleven, Twelve… something like that?"

Mysterious spots lights illuminate Finn and Flame Princess at the rear. Marshall Lee growls, knowing they've been caught, while the youngest of the group's disappointment quickly returns to excitement.

"How about you young sir?" Gene prompts and Flame Princess prods the young hero to speak.

"I'm 14…" he nervously offers.

"Yeah, You'll do." Shrugs the magician coyly, watching eagerly as the audience and Flame Princess guide the young man towards the stage.

"No…" Marshall hisses.

It's too late though, now even Fionna is helping to coerce Finn to the stage. The spotlights follow the young blue hero as the audience politely claps and cheers for him as he clumsily stumbles onto the stage.

"What's your name son?" Majique Gene placed his rose colored hand upon Finn's shoulder.

"F-finn," responded the hero nervously.

"Finn, I want you to take this piece of cloth right here," he presented the youth with a yard of white fabric and coerced his hands to hold it out taught, "and hold it out just like that. Good."

"Now," he followed by producing a bejeweled scimitar from behind his back and raised it over his head. Jake and Marshall Lee were quick to react, trying to storm the stage before the "magician" could harm their friend. Finn visibly shrunk back at the sight of the gleaming blade, yet still held the fabric out tight for the magician to cut.

In a flashy motion he cleaved the fabric in two.

"I will rend the cloth in two." He finished as Finn held two equal parts that the magician had just cut. Carefully he traded the blade for the two pieces of cloth with the boy's shaking hands. Finn breathed in relief as did the canine and vampire let out a held breath, who'd gotten half way down the aisle. The magician glanced at the two magical creatures with a knowing devil-like smirk. Still the show continued.

"And now through the power of miracles, I shall mend the cloth," he quickly tied the two pieces of fabric together again into a knot with large bunny ear hanging off. He presented it to the audience and joked, "with a knot. That's how an ordinary person without the power of miracles would do it."

Polite laughter filled the stage.

"But observe as my Glob given powers… my cosmic touch," he pets the knot before pulling the fabric apart, magically untieing and mending the yard whole again.

"… just melts that knot away! And someone say ramen! (AN: church of the flying spaghetti monster anyone?)"

The crowd cheers as does Finn for his wonderful trick. Jake agrees that it was pretty nifty what he did, but Marshall Lee just slumps. They were wasting time waiting for the genie to finish his overrated fiasco showcasing his obvious overinflated ego.

"That trick, ladies and gentlemen, was actually… just a really stupid trick. One even a mere child could reproduce. So allow me to show you something more… young Finn, are you ready to assist me in my next feat?"

"Yes sir," he readily nods still holding the scimitar. Gene speedily wraps the cloth around Finn's neck like a scarf, wrapping it tightly around his throat. Finn stands bravely complacent as the fabric winds tightly around him and drapes down his arms.

"Do you believe in the cosmic power of Majique Gene?"

"Sure."

"Then Finn, last human…"

"Wait… what?" the hero's smile falters on the emphasis of "last human."

"Behold my awesome power!" With a wiggling finger the fabric comes alive, transformed into a very real albino boa constrictor. Instantly the hero loses his calm as he realizes the monster is strangling and weighing him down. He tumbles to the stage, trying in vain loosen the constricting snake's hold.

"Now tell me, do you feel the power of that boa crushing your young… not quite yet formed trachea?" he gloats over the youth, hands casually in his pockets.

"FINN!" Jake hollers as he storms the stage. A paw barely touches the planked floor before he suddenly finds himself trapped in a zig-zag box. The three tiers clatter to the floor, leaving the stunned pooch magically cut in three equal pieces.

"I know why you are here," the genie explains.

The vampire attempts to get to the stage next, only to be immediately blocked by both Fionna and Flame Princess. Marshall Lee internally rolls his eyes, unbelieving that this is how the magnificent genie plans to stop the King of Vampires. His sneakered foot first lands a kick into the Flame Princess's gut knocking her back. Smoothly he rises above Fionna's head, planting his other shoe in her face to kick off from onto the stage.

"Really… you're being poor sports about the whole thing."

A fang revealing hiss broadcasts Marshall's strike, fist raised to knock the stuffing out of the magic creature. A second before the hit, Marshall Lee finds himself secured to the Wheel of Death by dozens of long swords, axes, arrows and knifes.

"Undo what you've done!" Marshall Lee spits.

"Well because you asked… NO!" he replies angrily.

Blood splatters across the stage as Finn finally manages to angle the scimitar into the strangling snake. Violently, and desperately he hacks away at the beast until he is freed, sweating and dripping with snake guts.

"You messed up Ice King's wish and messed up Fionna's soul!" Finn accused, brandishing the jeweled sword. Marshall Lee pulls free of the Wheel of Death and makes a flying charge towards the genie. Finn picks up on the moment and also rushes towards the fat pink man with a fierce battle cry. The boys run right through him as he vaporizes into a wisp of magic, their momentum carrying them forwards. Suddenly both boys jerk backwards and crash back onto the stage as if something had yanked them backwards. Sitting up, they find a long chain attached to both their wrist, chaining them a short distance apart.

Majique Gene floats cross-legged behind the heroes, amusedly watching them struggle to hack and break the chains. Off to the side of the stage Jake struggles to pull his pieces back together, unable to make his head and torso stick while his bottom half walks away from the rest of him. The prop audience has long since disappeared, only leaving Fionna and Flame Princess among the spectators. The two girls walk complacently towards the genie, standing at… well below his sides.

"He's making complete butts of us," Finn observes in a hushed voice.

"I know!" the vampire replies, not as quietly.

"We need a plan."

"You know, there's an easy way we end all of this," Gene speaks casually over the boys, his hands clasped together. "I'm surprised actually… well maybe not that much. Anyway, you boys come here making such a big fuss over one girl and want me to use my amazing powers… to undo it all. Why?"

The boys glare up at the creature, careful to not reveal their curiosity.

"Why, when I could give you so much more. When I could give you all of this?"

"What do you mean?" innocently Finn inquires, receiving a swift bonk on the head from Marshall Lee. Didn't the human know a rotten deal when he heard one?

"I could give you anything you wished for. I can do anything."

"Can you shut up?" Marshall Lee attempts, receiving an approving fist bump.

"I could bring back the human race. I could make a vampire mortal again." The genie continues, undeterred by the rude comments. He's beady eyes focus more to the human than the vampire, knowing that the human soul is weaker to temptation. The sparkling wonder in Finn's blue eyes is proof enough that he has the human.

"At what cost? What's the catch you freak?" Marshall Lee bites.

"Oh, nothing much. Just your soul… hey it doesn't even have to be your soul," his pin stripped jacket opens to reveal a collection of test tube shaped vials, all glowing brilliantly with years, even centuries of souls. He picks one particularly brilliant blue soul to showcase to the heroes, "The old geezer wished for Fionna body and soul… but clearly wasn't going to miss one measly girl's soul. Not as long as she was obedient to him and placated to his every whim. So I kept it, as minor payment. So tell me boys, what would you give up to have anything you wished for?"

Finn's eyes widened as he drifted down over Flame Princess, gliding his own hand's down her smooth shoulder, "To note be the last human?"

Marshall Lee punched Finn in the shoulder to knock him back into reality. Gradually the magician reached over to caress the underside of Fionna's chin, "Or I can put her back the way she was, send you two home… just for the price of your soul. Just tell me you wish…"

He taunted them by waving the vial over the blonde adventuresses head. Her blue eyes traveled up to the glowing soul, a pained look in her blue eyes. Perhaps recognizing what was stolen from her.

"Finn?" Flame Princess tempted, bringing her hands up to her chest, looking longingly into her hero's eyes.

A snarl rumbled in the vampire's throat.

Finn chewed his lower lip, gazing desperately from his friends to his foe. The hero swallowed to hydrate his dried throat muscles, finally choosing to speak up,

"Magic dude… I wish…"

_ A/N: Glob. Is that not the worst note to end this chapter on? I find cliffhangers always do work best._

_Every since the Ice King sang the Cheer's theme on the show, I've felt a lot freer to run with what every pop culture reference is burning at the back of my skull. So beyond Twilight Zone I hope to throw a few more Pop Culture refs in the story. Meanwhile, a gold star to anyone who can guess what real life magician Majique Gene is based off of. Cuz he is absolutely voicing this character in my head._

_Meanwhile thanks for all the new watches and reviews! I promised myself I wouldn't be one of those... but reviews really do INSPIRE me to want to work harder. I also think I'll be able to wrap this story up in the next few chapters. Oh and look for Cake to REappear next time too._


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